#F13 Free Speech Occupation Tomorrow

Photo: Interior room at the Metropoolitan Museum of Art, American Wing. Tomorrow at Independence Mall in Philadelphia there will be a 24-hour long mini-occupation starting at 7 AM.

Conservatives Are Unethical

Photo: painting detail...Metropolitan Museum of Art American Wing. Conservatives are ethically challenged. How else can you categorize people who: justify obscene levels of wealth in the face of rampant poverty and hunger; who insist on forcing their particular religious beliefs on everyone else; who demand control over women's bodies; and for whom killing of innocents abroad in oil wars is merely "collateral damage?" It's time we call conservatives out for what they are: unethical people.

The Importance Of Today's Prop 8 Decision

Harvard Law School graduate Ari Ezra Waldman: Perry is the vessel through which our federal law will finally recognize the inherent value of who we are. If we can marry, and our law dispenses with the last vestiges of state rationales for anti-gay discrimination -- all of which have been levied against us in Perry -- then states will have few reasons to discriminate against us in other areas. If we can marry, we will finally be able to say, "We belong." Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/prop-8-what-to-expect-tomorrow.html#ixzz1lhBO5WFq

New York City Road Trip

Yesterday we went by train to New York City. It was a nice day for the trip. We started at the newly expanded American Art wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wow!

How The Coming War With Iran Will Start

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Even if Israel attacks on its own, the United States will be blamed, with repercussions for U.S. forces in the region, and in Afghanistan. "If the Israelis made that decision," Panetta told Face the Nation, "we would have to be prepared to protect our forces in that situation. And that's what we'd be concerned about."

End Of Empire Time

Commenter "Demid" at Huffington:

We are become Rome, and it is not pretty. The masses are obese on cheap bread, dulled by circuses (we call them sports), and dumbed down thanks to the destructio­n of public education by the far right acting as the servants of the plutocracy­. The plutocrats can, and will, leave the country for their mansions around the world. The rest of us cannot. We can only reap the whirlwind. And we will. Because we are that stupid. And that sheep-like in our behavior.

Obama's Weaknesses And The Coming War With Iran

Yale professor David Bromwich at Huffington outlines how Obama's lack of leadership and the will to confront his political enemies at home and abroad has put us on track for a war with Iran. So we're almost out of one war, trying to get out of another, yet preparing for a third war later this year. What a tragedy that the first African American president is such a failure on so many fronts. Bromwich:

Nothing could be more disastrous for America and nothing could be less necessary than war with Iran. Obama's idea, if it is his idea, that he can assist or countenance or be party to an attack by Israel without deep repercussions against the United States and many of its assets and its people the world over, is the most desperate of fantasies. The repercussions, if they are not felt at once, will be felt for a generation and more. Obama has let the war party have their innings until they are sure that they control him. All the signs now, and above all his reluctance to make a case for negotiation or even to hint at the progress of diplomacy that may be under way, suggest that the people who pitched for the Iraq war and have Iran in their sights are counting Obama as one of their own. He is reluctant, yes, but he is almost a committed man. The latest propaganda for war has gone so far that it will be a full-time job to resist the momentum building to a "test" some time this year. As it stands, Iran is headed to become for Obama in 2012 what the economy was in 2010: a controllable crisis which, through personal inaction and conventional acquiescence in failed policies, threatens to pass utterly beyond his control.

Evening Winter Walk

Schuylkill Banks, where I take daily walks in the early evening.

Likes To Look Cute

On my desktop, right in front of me...I get these roll-overs all day long!

Snorkeling & UW Video St. Barths

This is video that I took last year while snorkeling in St. Barths. I can't wait to get back there!