Backward Conservatives Mostly Live And Are Isolated Inland

Robert Reich thinks that the problem is that people who do not live on either seacoast tend to be backward:

America's regressives -- trying to stop abortions, prevent gay marriages, keep their guns, hold back immigration, militarize the border, limit voting rights, prevent the teaching of evolution, deny climate change, tear down the wall between church and state, and cut safety nets -- reflect the values and views of those who are cut off from the realities of the 21st century. Our problem is they have disproportionate political power, and are determined to hold onto it as long as they can.

Scalia In His Rage Helps Marriage Equality

In his rabid dissent in the Windsor case, Scalia provides a road map to full marriage equality:

“By formally declaring anyone opposed to same-sex marriage an enemy of human decency the majority arms well every challenger to a state law restricting marriage to its traditional definition.”

Scalia: Brain Dead, Dead, Dead

Law Professor Art Leonard:

Scalia recently took the position during a public talk that the Constitution is “dead, dead, dead” – not to say that the Constitution is meaningless, but rather to say that, in his view, the essence of a written Constitution is that its meaning is fixed upon its adoption and does not evolve over time. This view has never won a firm majority on the Court, but Scalia writes as if it is well-established, as it is in his own mind. Kennedy clearly disagrees, as do the four Democratic appointees and even, from time to time, Chief Justice Roberts. Only Thomas and, perhaps, Alito, seem to adhere to Scalia’s views on this.

The Significance Of Marriage

Yale Professor George Chauncey writing in the New York Times:

Historically, denial of marriage rights has been a powerful symbol of people’s exclusion from full citizenship. Enslaved people in America did not have the right to marry before the Civil War; Jews did not have the right to marry non-Jews in Nazi Germany. In 1948, the United Nations enshrined the freedom to marry as a fundamental human right. That same year California’s highest court became the first in the nation to overturn a state law banning interracial marriage.

Marriage Equality Victories...But!

Jeff Rosenthal in the New York Times:

The rulings today leave a lot unsettled, starting with the fact that the surviving part of D.O.M.A. frees states from having to recognize marriages legally performed in other states — which seems clearly unconstitutional to me but was not part of this case. So, if you’re a same-sex couple married in New York and you’re driving west through the Lincoln Tunnel, when you see that yellow line marking the border of New Jersey, you’re no longer married. How ridiculous.

Garden Standouts

Asiatic lilies are blooming in our Cherry Grove garden.

Terror v. Surveillance? Keeping Americans Safe in Two Simple Steps | Common Dreams

Terror v. Surveillance? Keeping Americans Safe in Two Simple Steps | Common Dreams

Cherry Grove GLBT Pride Parade

Saturday was GLBT Pride Parade day in Cherry Grove. Here are some photos of the parade.

Hurricane Sandy Was Here

Surf Walk, Cherry Grove, NY

Ryan Murphy's HBO "The Normal Heart" Shoots In The Pines

Sailor's Haven Resident

Has to beware of foxes!

Grocery Day

Getting supplies for another week.

Wild Flowers Of Corsica

In May I took a two hour tour on Corsica to an area with unusual rock formations. There were also a variety of pretty little wild flowers growing in the area.

Roses

Our rose bushes took a hit from Hurricane Sandy, but they bounced back!

"H S" Harold Seeley's Initials In Fireworks!

Harold Seeley Fireworks

Barak Bush

Maureen Dowd nails the president yet again:

Back in 2007, Obama said he would not want to run an administration that was “Bush-Cheney lite.” He doesn’t have to worry. With prisoners denied due process at Gitmo starving themselves, with the C.I.A. not always aware who it’s killing with drones, with an overzealous approach to leaks, and with the government’s secret domestic spy business swelling, there’s nothing lite about it.

Philadelphia Orchestra musicians perform on flight waiting on Beijing ta...

Published on Jun 7, 2013

When a group from The Philadelphia Orchestra found itself delayed on the tarmac for three hours waiting for their flight from Beijing to Macao as part of the 2013 Residency & Fortieth Anniversary Tour of China, a quartet of musicians decided to provide a "pop up" performance for the passengers.

Juliette Kang, violin
Daniel Han, violin
Che-Hung Chen, viola
Yumi Kendall, cello

96 Year Old Actor Kirk Douglas On Guns

We have become a cowboy country with too many guns.

The New Pines Pavillion

Still not finished.
 

Inside St Barths - A Personal Look at My Favorite Place to Visit