30 June 2009

Sixty Senate Seats

Al Franken Wins Senate Seat in Minnesota

NYTimes:

In reaction, Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the National Democratic Senatorial Committee, said this in his statement:

“As we’ve seen over the past 238 days, no matter how many times Norm Coleman goes to court, the result of the election never changes: Al Franken earned more votes than Norm Coleman. Al Franken was elected to the Senate and he ought to be able to get to work for the people of Minnesota. We’ve always said that Norm Coleman deserved his day in court, and he got eight months. Now we expect Governor Pawlenty to do the right thing, follow the law, and sign the election certificate. From health care to the Supreme Court to getting our economy moving again, the challenges facing us are complex and we need Al Franken in the Senate. In this historic and urgent moment in our history, Minnesotans have gone long enough without full representation. Al Franken will be an critical voice on the issues before us and it’s time to let him get to work.”

Obama and Gay Americans


From Obama's remarks commemorating Stonewall yesterday at the White House:

So this story, this struggle, continues today -- for even as we face extraordinary challenges as a nation, we cannot -- and will not -- put aside issues of basic equality. (Applause.) We seek an America in which no one feels the pain of discrimination based on who you are or who you love.

And I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that. It's not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half century ago.

But I say this: We have made progress and we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps. And by the time you receive -- (applause.) We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration. (Applause.)
...

Now, even as we take these steps, we must recognize that real progress depends not only on the laws we change but, as I said before, on the hearts we open. For if we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that there are good and decent people in this country who don't yet fully embrace their gay brothers and sisters -- not yet.

That's why I've spoken about these issues not just in front of you, but in front of unlikely audiences -- in front of African American church members, in front of other audiences that have traditionally resisted these changes. And that's what I'll continue to do so. That's how we'll shift attitudes. That's how we'll honor the legacy of leaders like Frank and many others who have refused to accept anything less than full and equal citizenship.

Now, 40 years ago, in the heart of New York City at a place called the Stonewall Inn, a group of citizens, including a few who are here today, as I said, defied an unjust policy and awakened a nascent movement.

It was the middle of the night. The police stormed the bar, which was known for being one of the few spots where it was safe to be gay in New York. Now, raids like this were entirely ordinary. Because it was considered obscene and illegal to be gay, no establishments for gays and lesbians could get licenses to operate. The nature of these businesses, combined with the vulnerability of the gay community itself, meant places like Stonewall, and the patrons inside, were often the victims of corruption and blackmail.

Now, ordinarily, the raid would come and the customers would disperse. But on this night, something was different. There are many accounts of what happened, and much has been lost to history, but what we do know is this: People didn't leave. They stood their ground. And over the course of several nights they declared that they had seen enough injustice in their time. This was an outpouring against not just what they experienced that night, but what they had experienced their whole lives. And as with so many movements, it was also something more: It was at this defining moment that these folks who had been marginalized rose up to challenge not just how the world saw them, but also how they saw themselves.

As we've seen so many times in history, once that spirit takes hold there is little that can stand in its way. (Applause.) And the riots at Stonewall gave way to protests, and protests gave way to a movement, and the movement gave way to a transformation that continues to this day. It continues when a partner fights for her right to sit at the hospital bedside of a woman she loves. It continues when a teenager is called a name for being different and says, "So what if I am?" It continues in your work and in your activism, in your fight to freely live your lives to the fullest.

Leaving Iraq


Photo: Moises Saman for The New York Times

NYTimes: Despite a warning from Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi to stay away from crowded places during the pullback, thousands of Iraqis attended a party in a Baghdad park, a day ahead of the June 30 withdrawal of U.S. forces from all Iraqi cities.


29 June 2009

London


"The work of Danish artist Per Kirkeby (b. 1938) resists easy categorisation. Over the past four decades he has created an oeuvre that encompasses paintings on hardboard and canvas, blackboards, works on paper, small and large-scale bronze sculptures, ambitious brick structures and actual architecture, as well as an extensive body of writings that bear witness to his exceptional erudition. Such diverse terrains as nature, art history and popular culture are explored with a sense of curiosity and enquiry whose near-scientific rigour can be traced back to the artist's original university training as a geologist. This exhibition surveys Kirkeby's career up to the present moment with a particular focus on painting which has always formed the heart of his practice."

Tate Modern

Per Kirkeby is curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Curator, with Cliff Lauson, Assistant Curator.

27 June 2009

Berlin


Photo: Jack Shear
NYTimes: Berlin Totem, by Ellsworth Kelly, was installed in 2008 at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.



Photo: Annie Leibovitz

26 June 2009

Manhattan, 1969


Illustration: Marcellus Hall

Remembering Stonewall:

http://tiny.cc/iv2z4

25 June 2009


Michael Jackson
1959-2009


Farrah Fawcett
1947-2009

22 June 2009

Kentucky


Photo: Edward Rothstein/The New York Times
The Vent Haven Museum, in Fort Mitchell, Ky., is dedicated to the art of ventriloquism.



20 June 2009

Athens


Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The New Acropolis Museum in Athens, which is scheduled to open on Saturday, includes this 2,600 year old sculpture of a youth. The museum's glass-enclosed third-floor gallery has full views of the Parthenon.
Full story and photos at New York Times.

19 June 2009

Malibu


Photo: Eric Grigorian for The New York Times
The Malibu pier, built in 1905.


18 June 2009

Graduation Day


West Point Cadets in May.

17 June 2009

London


Photo: Catherine Ashmore
NYTimes: Helen Mirren stars as the title character in Racine's "Phèdre," playing an Athenian queen who takes an improper interest in her stepson. The show, directed by Nicholas Hytner, opened at the National Theater in London.


Nadal


Photo: Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times
Rafael Nadal at the Grand Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rome.


15 June 2009

Iran

12 June 2009

London


Photo: Johan Persson

Jude Law as "Hamlet"
Through 22 August at Wyndham's Theater


Iranian Election

Michael Singh: Foreign Policy Magazine
Excerpt from Will Iran's election produce change we can believe in?

It is vital to keep in mind that Iran’s presidential elections are not about the United States. As with elections everywhere, foreign policy will be only one element of voters’ decisions, and it will likely take a back seat to more pressing economic and social issues. Thus, while the results will have consequences for the United States, Washington should not fall prey to solipsism by reading them simplistically as a referendum on bilateral relations.

In that vein, the results of the elections should not be allowed to affect U.S. policy toward Iran. We do not have the luxury of choosing our Iranian interlocutors, despite the oft-stated recommendation that we negotiate only with the Supreme Leader’s staff and bypass the other organs of Iranian government. We should likewise take care not to fall into the trap of allowing Iran’s own choice of interlocutor to dictate our policy. If one of Ahmadinejad’s challengers is victorious, he should be given a blank slate, but the Iranian regime should not. The United States and its allies can ill afford any delay or slackening of pressure with the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran looming ever closer.

In his own pursuit of the presidency, Barack Obama campaigned on the themes of hope and change. While the challengers in Iran’s presidential elections similarly inspire hope among the Iranian people, they have little ability to deliver the sort of change sought by the United States. Whatever the outcome on Friday, the U.S. message to Iran’s leaders should be simple: we honor not the trappings of democracy but the free exercise of it, and we will judge you not by your words but by your actions.

11 June 2009

Iran


via Sullivan:

The "green revolution" is not exactly like the orange one or the velvet one. The green refers to Islam, and a theo-democracy is not a real democracy. But even neocons have to agree with Roger Cohen that "the frank ferocity of politics here in recent weeks would be unthinkable among U.S. allies from Cairo to Riyadh, a fact no less true for being discomfiting. The problem with Iran caricatures, like Benjamin Netanyahu’s absurd recent description of the regime as a “messianic, apocalyptic cult,” is that reality — not least this campaign’s — defies them.

Why the sudden turbulence? Here we come to the third critical characteristic of this campaign. Radicalism in the Bush White House bred radicalism in Iran, making life easy for Ahmadinejad.

President Obama’s outreach, by contrast, has unsettled the regime. With Lebanon denying an electoral victory to Hezbollah, the oil-driven Iranian economy in a slump, and America seeking reconciliation with Muslims, the world now looks a little different. Moussavi’s attacks on the “exhibitionism, extremism and superficiality” of Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy resonate.

Rafsanjani believes in a China option for Iran: a historic rapprochement with the United States that will at the same time preserve a modified regime. I also think that’s possible — and desirable — and that Khamenei’s margin for resisting it has just narrowed. So, too, has the margin for the foolishness of anti-Iran hawks.

Kuala Lumpur


Photo: BBC News Online

President Obama


Photo: White House
Sullivan:

I can't imagine many previous [presidents] just hanging out like this "outside the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Paris." There's something natural about this guy that evokes real support and affection. And that bond is not fraying. In some ways, it's deepening.

10 June 2009

New York City


Photo: Iwan Baan, 2009, Courtesy of Friends of the High Line
"The first phase of the High Line is one of the most thoughtful public spaces in New York in years."
Nicholas Ourousoff/NYTimes:

A subtle play between contemporary and historical design, industrial decay and natural beauty sets the tone. Lifted just three stories above the ground, you are suddenly able to perceive, with remarkable clarity, aspects of the city’s character you would never glean from an office window.

08 June 2009

iPhone 3G S

From NYTimes Live Blogging of the announcement at Apple:

2:52 p.m. | Big Response Booming applause for the improved camera functions suggests iPhone photographers are more than a niche.

2:50 p.m. | New Camera, Now With Video A new built-in-camera, as was heavily rumored. The old camera was 2 megapixels. The new camera is 3 megapixel, and not 3.2 as speculated. Auto focus is included and a new feature - tap to focus. You can tap items that appear on the camera to switch the camera’s focus. The camera also captures video, unlike the last iPhone. That was an oversight Apple is now correcting. 30 frames a second VGA, with audio. “Whenever you have your iPhone with you, you also have a video camera,” Mr. Schiller said.

Venice Biennale


Photo: Todd Heisler/NYTimes
“The Collectors,” an installation by Elmgreen & Dragset.

Broadway


Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Tony Award for Best Musical: Trent Kowalik in "Billy Elliot."
NYTimes: The three teenage boys who rotate in the title role of “Billy Elliot” — David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish — jointly won the award for best actor in a musical. “And we want to say to all the kids out there who might want to dance, never give up,” Mr. Kulish said.


06 June 2009

Tuscan Coast


Photo: Dave Yoder for The New York Times
NYTimes: Napoleon's garden on Elba, where he was once briefly exiled. It's the largest of the seven islands in the Tuscan Archipelago.

Story here.


Illustrator: Wesley Bedrosian


NYTimes

04 June 2009

Zev Kast


Photo: DH


White House Photo: Pete Souza

President Obama

“I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire.”

03 June 2009

Paris


Photo: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Roger Federer defeated Gaël Monfils on Wednesday to reach the semifinals at the French Open.

Iran



Sullivan:

I know we have to be cautious and I know who holds the military power. But we should not be blind to change when it emerges. Ahmadinejad has discredited himself in the eyes of many Iranians. They are looking for change they can believe in. This is the target audience for Obama this Thursday. He needs to reach out to the democratic forces in that country and remind them that America is their ally.

Nurse Jackie


Edie Falco in the ER.
"God, make me good, but not yet."
Showtime, 8 June

01 June 2009

Listening