Photo: Annie Tritt for The New York Times
Jacob Reitan, right, a gay student from the Harvard Divinity School, was one of two men arrested for trespassing on Friday at the Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square.
NYTimes:
Two students were arrested for trespassing at the Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square today as part of a series of sit-in protests in the Northeast against the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. About 20 people took part in the protest, organized by the Harvard Right to Serve Campaign; most left the scene when the police arrived.
The two students arrested were Jacob Reitan, a Harvard Divinity School student, and another man, Shelby Condray, a Boston University graduate student. Fellow protesters and passers-by cheered in their support. They were each given a criminal summons to appear before a judge at a later date, then released. The police said the two spent five minutes in the precinct office.
The students staged their protest (video can be seen at YouTube) after Mr. Reitan walked into the recruitment center, surrounded by other protesters holding signs, and tried to enlist while declaring that he was gay. He was arrested for not leaving after the military recruiters told him to, he said.
Later, in a phone interview, when a reporter asked why he did not simply enlist without mentioning that he is gay — as many gays and lesbians serving in the military have done — Mr. Reitan replied: “I know what the road ahead is for someone who doesn’t tell. It’s lies and deceit and stress.”
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell to a 28-year low in May, a survey showed on Friday, as soaring prices for food and fuel soured sentiment and pushed long-term inflation expectations to the highest in more than a decade.
The rising expectations conflicted with a government report showing price growth moderated last month. Together, the reports heighten the challenge facing the Federal Reserve, which wants to avoid inflation perceptions becoming reality.
The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers confidence index fell to 59.8 in May, the lowest since 58.7 in June 1980. Its gauge of five-year inflation expectations rose to 3.4 percent, the highest since April 1995.
"Consumers are running scared. These price data are bad for consumers and businesses," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in New York.
"We are not going to see the economy getting better any time soon. We are still in the early stages of the recession."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shi'ite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post. Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of U.S. policy and is widely regarded as a vital step in reconciling Iraq's factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds.
The breakdown in talks could undermine Washington's efforts to prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to Iraq's government at a conference in Sweden on Thursday as a way of countering Shi'ite Iran's growing influence in Iraq. "We have suspended negotiations with the government and pulled out our candidates," said Salim al-Jibouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front. He said the decision was taken after Maliki objected to a candidate for a cabinet position.
From The Politico:
"The president had promised himself that he would accomplish what his father had failed to do by winning a second term in office," he writes. "And that meant operating continually in campaign mode: never explaining, never apologizing, never retreating. Unfortunately, that strategy also had less justifiable repercussions: never reflecting, never reconsidering, never compromising. Especially not where Iraq was concerned."
• McClellan charges that Bush relied on "propaganda" to sell the war.
• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.
• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be "badly misguided."
• The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them -- and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.
Through June 21 at James Cohan Gallery, 533 West 26th Street, Chelsea; (212) 714-9500 or jamescohan.com.
Photo: François Guillot/Agence France-Presse
NYTimes:
The president of the jury, Sean Penn, said the Palme d'Or for “The Class” was one of two unanimous verdicts. The other was the prize for best actor, given to Benicio Del Toro, who played the title role in Steven Soderbergh’s “Che.”
The memorial was designed by the Danish-Norweigan artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.
via International Herald Tribune:
Memorial for Gay Victims of Nazi Persecution Dedicated in Berlin
The memorial consists of a grey rectangular block some four meters (13 feet) tall. One side has a small opening through which viewers will see a black and white art film scene of two men kissing. "A simple kiss could land you in trouble," says the text which accompanies the memorial.
The memorial has a prominent place in Berlin's Tiergarten park, half a block from Brandenburg Gate. The monument sits across from the Jewish Holocaust Memorial. Originally it was debated whether homosexuals should be included in the larger memorial before the decision was made to give homosexuals their own monument. But the design corresponds to the Holocaust Memorial's field of steles, a series of concrete blocks of varying sizes. While the Nazi persecution of the Jews is well known, for many years there was little public acknowledgement of Nazi atrocities towards homosexuals. Estimates put the number of homosexuals arrested by Nazis at about 54,000 with 7,000 being killed in concentration camps.
This photo provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute as it lands on Mars on Sunday May 25, 2008 as seen by a telescopic camera in orbit. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
AP:
On Monday, NASA released a black-and-white image captured during Phoenix's descent by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which had a bird's-eye view of the lander hanging from its parachute. It's the first time a spacecraft had taken an image of another craft during landing. Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory said the camera aboard Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken many unique pictures of Mars, but "this one's really unique. This will be on my Top 10 list," said McEwen, who operates the orbiter's camera." The $420 million Phoenix mission is led by University of Arizona, Tucson and managed by JPL. Unlike the twin rovers, which have been operating near the Martian equator since 2004, Phoenix has a limited lifetime. Winter will set in later this year at its landing site and likely will cover the lander with frost.
Photo: Ben Garvin for The New York Times
U.S. Senate candidate and comedian Al Franken talked with a voter at Nina's Coffee Cafe in St. Paul, Minn. in 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/57fn42
Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Brian J Smith and Christopher Abbott
"Good Boys and True"
By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; directed by Scott Ellis; sets by Derek McLane; costumes by Tom Broecker; lighting by Kenneth Posner; music by Lewis Flinn; production stage manager, Diane DiVita; stage manager, Megan Smith; associate artistic director, Christopher Burney; production manager, Jeff Wild. Presented by the Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, artistic director; Ellen Richard, executive director. At the Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton; (212) 246-4422. Through June 1.
Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World
"Americans are glum at the moment. No, I mean really glum. In April, a new poll revealed that 81 percent of the American people believe that the country is on the "wrong track." In the 25 years that pollsters have asked this question, last month's response was by far the most negative. Other polls, asking similar questions, found levels of gloom that were even more alarming, often at 30- and 40-year highs. There are reasons to be pessimistic—a financial panic and looming recession, a seemingly endless war in Iraq, and the ongoing threat of terrorism. But the facts on the ground—unemployment numbers, foreclosure rates, deaths from terror attacks—are simply not dire enough to explain the present atmosphere of malaise.
"American anxiety springs from something much deeper, a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world. In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled. "Whirl is king, having driven out Zeus," wrote Aristophanes 2,400 years ago. And—for the first time in living memory—the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people.
"Look around. The world's tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. Its largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. Its biggest refinery is being constructed in India. Its largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund on the planet is in Abu Dhabi; the biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Once quintessentially American icons have been usurped by the natives. The largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. The largest casino is in Macao, which overtook Las Vegas in gambling revenues last year. America no longer dominates even its favorite sport, shopping. The Mall of America in Minnesota once boasted that it was the largest shopping mall in the world. Today it wouldn't make the top ten. In the most recent rankings, only two of the world's ten richest people are American. These lists are arbitrary and a bit silly, but consider that only ten years ago, the United States would have serenely topped almost every one of these categories."
Photo: Marcelo Krasilcic
“An idea that is confident always looks masculine.”
NYTimes:
“What Thom Browne has done is make our eye adjust to a shorter, smaller silhouette,” said Tommy Fazio, the men’s fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman, where members of the Thom Browne sect go for their seasonal hit, at least those unafraid to pay $4,000 for a suit. “Other designers followed,” Mr. Fazio said, an observation correct as far as it goes. (Viktor & Rolf; Christopher Bailey; Ennio Capasa at Costume National; and Miuccia Prada leap to mind as designers who have showed kiddie-size men’s clothes for years.)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved gay marriage ban Thursday in a ruling that would make the nation's largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.The justices released the 4-3 decision, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George. Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno joined the majority. Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision.
In striking down the ban, the court said, "In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will support the decision. "I respect the Court's decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the rain fall soft upon your field.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Celtic blessing
The handmade Madera Ovales M4 tub is made to measure to fit a room and comes in woods like walnut ($41,000), shown; beech ($32,000); and teak or wenge ($52,000); (610) 831-0214 or wsbathcollections.com for information and retailers.
Photo: Mohammed Zaatari/Associated Press
Tires burned to block the highway linking Beirut with the coastal village of Jiyeh, Lebanon, on Thursday.
NYTimes:
The decision by the Lebanese government to shut down a private telephone network operated by the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah was an act of war and Hezbollah would defend itself, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, said on Thursday.
Photo: UPI (click on image)
An electrical storm in the gigantic ash column that rises from Chaitén volcano, reaching a height of 14 kilometers.
http://megagalerias.terra.cl/galerias/index.cfm?id_galeria=30734
Photo: Pool photograph by Vladimir Rodionov
Dimitri A. Medvedev, the Kremlin insider and unprepossessing lawyer who had never held elected office before, was sworn in as Russia’s president on Wednesday inside the Grand Kremlin Palace. The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with renewed Russian confidence, marked the passing of formal power from departing President Vladimir V. Putin to his young and untested protégé.
But the events also served as a tribute to the enduring stature and popularity of Mr. Putin, who Mr. Medvedev nominated as prime minister within hours of taking office.
From ThinkProgress:
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds that 71 percent of the American public disapproves of the job President Bush is doing:
“No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president’s disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
“Bush’s approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon (22 percent and 24 percent, respectively) but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s,” Holland added. “The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 67 percent disapproval in January 1952.”
Public support for the Iraq war has also dropped to 30 percent, an all-time low.
