Observations from the Coffee Shop 4.20

Yesterday was a day of millions of tweets. Some of the tweets actually had nothing to do with Boston or the manhunt but at 8:58 P.M. the only one that mattered was posted by the Boston Police department.

CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.
— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013

Observations 4.18

I'll try and keep this short but after yesterday's pathetic vote in the U.S. Senate I felt like doing something. I decided on a simple list, a list of 45 brave Americans who simply think it should be easier to buy a gun than it is to drive a car. Actually it's easier to buy a gun than it is to import a bunch of bananas or take a pineapple home from a trip to Hawaii but I said I would keep it short. I want to give special kudos to Rand Paul who thinks that parents who have lost their children in a slaughter are simply props who have no place in a reasonable debate. But than there was no reasonable debate, just these 45 bought, paid for, and scared senators who care more about their jobs than what their constituents think.

Gabby Giffords wrote an op-ed for today's New York Times that everybody should read. In it she said this; "Our democracy’s history is littered with names we neither remember nor celebrate, people who stood in the way of progress while protecting the powerful. On Wednesday, a number of senators voted to join that list."

This is that list.

Democrats:
Max Baucus (D-MT), (202) 224-2651  
Mark Begich (D-AK), (202) 224-3004  
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), (202) 224-2043  
Mark Pryor (D-AR), (202) 224-2353

Republicans:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN), (202) 224-4944
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), (202) 224-3324
John Barrasso (R-WY), (202) 224-6441
Roy Blunt (R-MO), (202) 224-5721
John Boozman (R-AR), (202) 224-4843
Richard Burr (R-NC), (202) 224-3154
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), (202) 224-3521
Dan Coats (R-IN), (202) 224-5623
Tom Coburn (R-OK), (202) 224-5754
Thad Cochran (R-MS), (202) 224-5054
Bob Corker (R-TN), (202) 224-3344
John Cornyn (R-TX), (202) 224-2934
Mike Crapo (R-ID), (202) 224-6142
Ted Cruz (R-TX), (202) 224-5922
Michael Enzi (R-WY), (202) 224-3424
Deb Fischer (R-NE), (202) 224-4521
Jeff Flake (R-AZ), (202) 224-4521
Lindsey Graham (R-SC), (202) 224-5972
Chuck Grassley (R-IA), (202) 224-3744
Orrin Hatch (R-UT), (202) 224-5251
Dean Heller (R-NV), (202) 224-6244
John Hoeven (R-ND), (202) 224-2551
Jim Inhofe (R-OK), (202) 224-4721
Johnny Isakson (R-GA), (202) 224-3643
Mike Johanns (R-NE), (202) 224-4224
Ron Johnson (R-WI), (202) 224-5323
Mike Lee (R-UT), (202) 224-5444
Mitch McConnell (R-KY), (202) 224-2541
Jerry Moran (R-KS), (202) 224-6521
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), (202) 224-6665
Rand Paul (R-KY), (202) 224-4343
Rob Portman (R-OH), (202) 224-3353
James Risch (R-ID), (202) 224-2752
Pat Roberts (R-KS), (202) 224-4774
Marco Rubio (R-FL), (202) 224-3041
Timothy Scott (R-SC), (202) 224-6121
Jeff Sessions (R-AL), (202) 224-4124
Richard Shelby (R-AL), (202) 224-5744
John Thune (R-SD), (202) 224-2321
David Vitter (R-LA), (202) 224-4623
Roger Wicker (R-MS), (202) 224-6253

Senators of the 113th Congress, Official (addresses, email, etc.)

Observations from the Coffee Shop 4.16

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

As I write this 3 are dead and 126 are still hospitalized, 17 of them in critical condition, after two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon finish line yesterday afternoon. These are just some of my random thoughts from the morning after.


I was working in mid-town yesterday afternoon. It was one of those rare moments when I have my phone turned off but I still knew something happened, something not good. Live in this city long enough and you start to notice when the police are on edge, that and the fact that there were suddenly more and better armed police on the street. Another sure sign is when there are police cars everywhere with their lights on, no sirens, just lights, as if they were putting on a show of force for somebody. It only took a moment to find out what had happened at the Boston Marathon.

As with any news terror in the age of twitter is instantaneous. Rumors are reported as fact and you have to be really careful and think about what you are reading. One thing I found a bit disgusting was how wingnuts of the right immediately blamed middle eastern (read Muslim) terrorists while those of the left were just as fast to blame home grown crazies of the right. Michael Moore simply tweeted "Tax Day? Patriots Day?" and left it hanging. Right wing bloggers attacked the left for politicizing such a sad event but failed to mention that Fox News and the New York Post both reported a Saudi national was in custody and suspected in the bombings. The Post is still reporting today that the Saudi man was being grilled by the FBI because he 'smelled of gunpowder.' Both the Post and Fox News are owned by Rupert Murdoch.

I read somewhere that any normal person would drop to their knees and pray to god upon hearing the news. I have to be honest and say I'm far from normal but I did think of god later in the day. I want to know what kind of supposedly all knowing god kills an eight year old boy in a bomb blast. Indeed this all knowing god seems to have a thing for kids lately. But enough of that, that's a line of thought that never fails to bring me grief.

We like to think we're lucky in this country because there are parts of the world where terror on this scale is a daily occurrence but are we really that lucky? What is a mass shooting if not a pathetic, lonely, and non-political form of terrorism? As happened after Benghazi President Obama is again being criticized for not immediately calling Boston an act of terror but that would just be stating the obvious. Of course it was an act of terror, gas lines don't spew ball bearings when the explode, the question is terror from who. The word terrorism has political connotations that sometimes are best left to the wingnuts.

I saw former Pennsylvania Governor and the first Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge interviewed last night. The reporter was asking Ridge how something like the combing could still happen without any warning when he changed tone asked what person could do to protect themselves. Ridge simply shook his head and said, "Just live your life, just live your life." I found myself nodding as he said it because, for more than one reason, those are words to live by.

Sadly it's the world we now live in now and frankly I don't think it's ever going to change.

Sunday Observations 4.14

Last Thursday the Republican National Committee held another in its series of "rebranding" retreats. It released a resolution that had passed unanimously and without any debate whatsoever. "The Resolution for Marriage and Children 2013" included the following paragraphs which I'm not even going to comment on, I think they speak for themselves. It makes me wonder what it feels like to be a political party that is about to be swept aside by history. You can read the full resolution here.

"WHEREAS, the institution of marriage is the solid foundation upon which our society is built and in which children thrive; it is based in the conjugal relationship that only a man and a woman can form;

WHEREAS, no Act of human government can change the reality that marriage is a natural and most desirable union; especially when procreation is a goal;

RESOLVED, the Republican national Committee affirms its support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America."

Observations 4.14

I sat down to start writing my Sunday Observations and realized I hadn't written anything all week. My excuse is that it was a busy week. I went to a concert last Sunday night, had some work to get finished, and I had some visitors. My aunt and sister magically appeared at my door.

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned my aunt before but I should have as she is probably one of the more interesting members of my family. In many ways I'm more like my aunt than I am my mom just as in many ways my aunt and mom are very different. Both loved art but my aunt made it her life as she graduated from two art schools and worked at a few museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Never married she lived in Los Angeles and New York, at one time having an apartment just blocks from where I live now, as well as Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. The Atlanta stop I should ask her about because I never could figure that one out.

My aunt is the world traveling rebellious sister while my mom was the much more serious and at times philosophical one. In that way the two remind me a lot of my sister and I. In art my mom's interests ran more towards classical art and history while my aunt loves all things modern and abstract. When my mom lost her hair during chemo she religiously wore a Penn State cap her daughter forced on her. Last year, after being diagnosed with the same rare cancer as my mom, my aunt refused all offers from my rather large hat collection and acquired a large collection of her own, long printed scarves that flow behind her.

I love my aunt dearly so I'm happy to tell the reason for the surprise visit. As I said last year she was diagnosed with same cancer my mom had. When she started treatment her CSA-125 level was in the thousands, normal is below 35. After two surgeries, months of chemo, and some personal treatments she wont divulge her most recent test showed a level below 1 prompting her doctors to say they have never seen such a dramatic shift and even inviting her to join some sort of cancer study.

So yes, after almost having an aneurysm when I saw them at my door it was a very happy surprise visit. Still, deep down I feel like I should warn her doctors what they are getting themselves into with this study invitation.

Sunday Observations 4.6

I'm going to start by saying I have no idea what Google is doing with Chrome and by extension Google+, blogger, and all it's other web apps. My main problem? Everything is double spaced including menus and bookmarks. The bookmark spacing is what is driving me insane because I save a lot of bookmarks and now I either have to scroll through them or sort them in more folders than I already have.

We were out last night and saw a woman walking a pink poodle, I do not lie. I really need to know what kind of evil causes a person to dye their dog pink. If you have any clue please let me know.

Sometimes it's best to just avoid reading anything related to healthcare because even with Obamacare it seems the country keeps heading in the wrong direction. A headline caught my eye because it involved Express Scripts CEO George Paz and Express Scripts is the company that handles my prescriptions. The article said health plans hire companies like Express Scripts to help keep a lid on prescription drug costs. Last year Paz had a salary of $12.8 million which made me wonder if I now need a company to keep a lid on the costs of the company that keeps a lid on my prescription drug costs.

Back in November MoMA announced the acquisition of its first collection of video games in a blog post that now has over 200 comments. I'm only mentioning it now because the art world controversy it started fascinates me. I'll be the first to say I have a problem with someone standing on the street corner holding a garbage bag art, I've seen it, but there are plenty of people out there who will argue with me like I smashed the holy grail. Now you have these same people almost ill because MoMA considers video games art. Is a film art? Is architecture art? For different reasons both are so why not a video game? If Damien Hirst's spot paintings can be considered some of the greatest art in the history of man I'm sure a classic video game can be considered art too.

In an earlier post I mentioned Christine Quinn running for Mayor of New York. Lately I have been seeing articles written about her temper and arrogance as if this was a bad thing for a politician, including last week in The New York Times. For the record she has a temper and she is arrogant, probably two reasons I like her, but I have to wonder how one is even supposed to dream of being Mayor of New York without being either. Just look at the recent string of Michael Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani, and Ed Koch, three of the more arrogant politicians you will ever hear of. Now I'm sure plenty has been written about all three's arrogance over the years but not in the 'this woman has a mouth' type of way the Quinn articles are leaning. A former donor is quoted in the Times article as saying Quinn "used the ‘F’word at least 20 times." Sounds familiar.

Finally a bit of total twitter randomness, one of the better profiles I have ever seen, very short and to the point. Actor John Cusack (@johncusack, verified account), Apocalyptic shit disturber and elephant trainer.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 4.4

Over the past few weeks I may have read more about same sex marriage than I ever did before. Whether for marriage or against it everybody has an opinion now and they want it to be known so in no particular order here are a few odds and ends that stand out.

I'm putting this one first because I enjoyed reading it. I know, I said no particular order, but I really did enjoy it. In "The county where no one's gay" CNN's John D. Sutter went to Franklin County, Mississippi because the last census said that, well, there were no gays. My favorite part is this; "When I brought up the topic with a gray-haired woman I met in front of the grocery store in Meadville, she basically told me gay people don't exist, like, at all. "I don't believe in them kind of people. I don't believe in it," she said. "We don't need that same-sex marriage. That is wrong!'" A few paragraphs later Sutter adds, "I didn't even get a chance to tell her she was talking with a real, live gay person." The short version is that yes there are gays in Franklin County, it's just very few people want to admit it. The article is a good follow up to the Harvey Milk quote I used in a previous post.

For possibly the first, and hopefully the last, time I found myself agreeing with Bill O'Reilly; "The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals. That's where the compelling argument is. 'We're Americans, we just want to be treated like everybody else.' That’s a compelling argument. And to deny that, you've got to have a very strong argument on the other side. And the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible." Watch the video here.

I've never paid much attention to reddit and now I think I know why. Rules, I can't stand rules, and I'm thinking that until I finished reading reddit's rules and FAQs I'd forget what I had wanted to post. Here is a sample from the reddit LGBT page; "Rule 1: No homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, racism, serophobia, or misogyny. If you are unclear about what may constitute any of the above, please see the LGBT FAQ. If you are using triggering language in an educational or demonstrative capacity, we ask that you please wrap it in a trigger warning, e.g. [](/tw "problematic text"). If you are submitting a post that contains hateful remarks or triggering language, please precede your post's title with [TW]. For example: "[TW] Title of Post."

Matt Taibbi wrote a scathing column in Rolling Stone about a David Brooks column in The New York Times in which Brooks argues that gays are losing their 'freedom' by winning marriage. Taibbi finished with this; "The whole world seems rapidly to be coming to an understanding that this discrimination against gays and lesbians has to end, and the fact that this change is coming is a beautiful thing. You have to be a very unhappy person indeed to feel anything but joy about it, much less this sarcastic depression."

And that line is a fine one to finish this post with.

update - It seems David Brooks has struck a nerve. Here is another column about his thoughts, "David Brooks's Gay Marriage Delusion," by Amy Davidson in The New Yorker. "Brooks’s argument is that it is right and proper that they were (some earlier gay rights goals put aside): now, at last, gays can and should stop worrying about anything but whether their wedding announcement will make it into the Times. They can stop challenging things. They can be smug, too. Brooks, apparently, would consider that only polite."

Observations from the Road 4.1

It's April Fools' Day and what would it be without those fun peeps at Google freaking people out. They announced on the YouTube blog that YouTube has been one big contest all along and that after 8 years they have found the world's best video so will be shutting down at midnight tonight. Google also announced that Google Maps will now come with a treasure mode.

Semi-seriously speaking of Google, the sudden controversy over yesterday's 'Google Doodle' is too funny. So maybe somebody screwed up memorializing Cesar Chavez on his birthday instead of celebrating Easter. Am I serious? No not really but it looked good. So is the doodle all that important? No. Is Easter that important? No. Is everybody suddenly a Christian? No. Would Google have been better off with Easter eggs and a bunny? Very much so. Messed up world.

My dad was always a big Jeopardy fan and he had some info for me that I wish was and April Fools' prank. Supposedly Alex Trebek is finally going through with a retirement announcement and will leave the show in 2016. The rumor is that the front runner to replace him is Matt Lauer. Please no. I'm more of a fan of the Saturday Night Live version of Jeopardy so maybe Will Ferrell is available.

I haven't done any Sunday Observations for a few weeks but there is one thing I need to mention before I lose the note. I was watching MSNBC one night, probably The Last Word, and there it was, my dream panel. Krystal Ball and Alex Wagner seated next to each other. All I needed was the addition of Mika Brzezinski and I could have died a happy girl right then and that's no April Fools' joke, seriously.

Observations, Why Now?

Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer

The SCOTUS arguments made for an interesting week, interesting and thought provoking. I did a lot of reading, talking, and thinking about the subject because there was just so many opinions and articles out there. Everybody seems to have an opinion on same sex marriage now, it's an amazing thing to watch. One thing I know, you simply can not hear the forty year love story of Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer without tearing up. I suppose you can but than you probably don't understand what these arguments are all about. If you want to read about them this BuzzFeed article is a good place to start, "Meet The Hero Of The Marriage Equality Movement."

I have to be honest and say some of what I read has me stepping slightly back from what I said a couple days ago. While I still think Bill Clinton signing DOMA when it went against everything he stood for is political cowardice I can see where people have been evolving. One thing in particular has me saying that now and it's something I didn't realize before or I should say something I just learned. During the original 2008 Prop 8 vote the Mormon Church and it's members donated an estimated $20 million to help pass the measure. During the 'four state' campaign last year, that resulted in the first four same sex marriage wins at the ballot box, the church gave nothing. On one of its websites the church now says that homosexuality is not a choice. There is a good article on Reuters and if you dare the Mormon website is here.

The question quickly becomes why now? What suddenly changed over the past few years? The obvious first answer is demographics or, as someone said this week, everyday there are more of us and less of them. But demographics alone isn't an answer. What makes people, or a entire church, suddenly change it's mind about gays and same sex marriage?

There is another obvious answer but one I didn't think about until this week, one I didn't really hear discussed much until this week. Every day more and more gays come out of the closet. When I was in high school I sometimes felt like I was alone because I was the only out queer in my class. Not that many years later I know of a handful of others out in that very same class. Being the rebellious outsider sort I relished it at times but at other times I have to admit it did hurt so I'll always say having supportive parents made all the difference in the world. Just ten years later my sister's experiences were so very different than mine.

No matter what your moral, religious, or political thoughts on same sex marriage it's very hard to look a friend, family member, or co-worker in the eye and tell them that they shouldn't have the same rights as anybody else. That they shouldn't fall in love, shouldn't be allowed to have a family, that they shouldn't be allowed to marry. A perfect example is Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio who happens to be a GOP presidential hopeful and whose son is gay. On March 14 he announced that he now supported same sex marriage saying that his son was entitled to the same happiness that he and his wife share.

In 1978 Harvey Milk first gave what became known as his 'Hope Speech' at San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day Parade. "On this anniversary of Stonewall, I ask my gay sisters and brothers to make the commitment to fight. For themselves, for their freedom, for their country. We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out."

Makes so much more sense today.

Observations on Art 3.30

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born 160 years ago today in the Netherlands. To celebrate here is a little something to watch while you throw around the egg dye this Easter weekend. What? Doesn't every family do that?

The Power of Art - Van Gogh

link
the complete series

Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.28

While I was reading some articles last night I found one on Gawker called "Cowardice As A Political Philosophy" that is very good and worth reading. It's about both the Iraq War and same sex marriage but includes a few paragraphs about Bill and Hillary Clinton that struck a nerve. Now I love the Clintons and I always will but what Nolan says is all too true and is also the politics of same sex marriage in a nutshell. In the end it doesn't always mean somebody needs to evolve on the issue.

"People like the Clintons - cosmopolitan, well traveled, well educated, well connected, and liberal - do not really believe that gay marriage is some great threat to America. They would no doubt laugh at the simple-minded odiousness of such a position, in private. But in public, they were all too happy to embrace it for their own political gain.

Bill Clinton signed into law an act which banned gay marriage, because he feared the political consequences of vetoing it. That is a fact. And it is disgusting. Hillary Clinton, like many of her peers, supported that act, and continued to oppose the right of gay people to marry up until just this year. That she supported "domestic partnerships," the most intellectually laughable attempt at a middle ground since the the Three-Fifths Compromise, only serves to expose her own hypocrisy more easily.

Let us be clear about what this is: this is an example of some of the most powerful people in America spitting upon the basic civil rights of a minority group in order to further their own political power. This is the opposite of courage. This is cowardice in all of its repulsive glory."

Observations 3.27

Upon further review, well, maybe I spoke too soon. I'm going to stand by what I wrote yesterday about the Supreme Court and Prop 8 because I still think the Obama "nine state" decision is one of the possible results. After listening to some of the audio I'm not so sure it's very likely. More likely seems that either the court simply dismisses the case entirely or agrees with the appellate court. Either result ends Prop 8 in California but doesn't effect the rest of the country. Listening to the audio you get the feeling that for the most part they wish it would just go away so maybe a dismissal. I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud.

As expected what Justice Kennedy thinks will be more important than the other justices, especially the ravings of a mad hatter like Scalia. Kennedy seems to be struggling with the issue, wanting to do what he knows is right but probably goes against his own personal beliefs. Justice Kennedy asked Charles Cooper, attorney for Prop 8, a question about the 40,000 children in California who just want their parents married, "the voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?" Not wanting to say the children didn't matter Cooper evaded the question. Later Justice Kennedy was the first to bring up just dismissing the case while Chief Justice Roberts and Kennedy both questioned whether Prop 8 backers had any legal standing for defending it in court.

Cooper, responding to a question from Justice Sotomayor, fully admitted that, other than marriage, he could not think of any legal reason to treat gays differently than anyone else. I found this interesting because I didn't see it mentioned much in the media yesterday.

I guess we'll find out in June.

Today SCOTUS hears the DOMA arguments, again beginning at 10 AM, with audio and transcripts to follow in the early afternoon. My gut feeling prediction on this case is easy, DOMA is dead, especially if the court isn't going to broadly rule on the Prop 8 case.

update - Here are the links for both the audio and the written transcript from today's DOMA oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Also here are a pair of links to the Prop 8 and DOMA transcripts on the Oyez Project website. The Oyez Project is at the Chicago-Kent Law School and is a multimedia archive of SCOTUS cases. What makes these transcripts interesting is that they are searchable by word and by speaker. To search the transcript click on the 'oral argument' link near the bottom of each page.

Observations 3.26

At 10 AM this morning the Supreme Court of The United States will begin hearing arguments in California's Prop 8 case. They are scheduled to last one hour, give or take, with arguments in the DOMA case scheduled for Wednesday at the same time. Transcripts are supposed to be released no later than 2 PM both days and I'll pass along links when I have them. Decisions in both cases probably wont be announced until the end of the court's term which, one way or another, will make the end of June rather interesting. Not too any years ago I wondered if I would see legal same sex marriage across the country in my lifetime. Now, other than the flyover belt of the country, I wonder how soon I will see it become a reality. At the end of June I may just find out.

I thought I should throw my opinion out there before arguments start on the remote chance that at some point I'll be able to say I told you so.

The main argument against same sex marriage now comes down to that marriage is between a man and a woman because it "furthers society’s vital interests in responsible procreation and child rearing." That is it, that is their argument. Narrowly the worst case scenario is that the court takes the position that the constitution has no position on the issue thus leaving it completely to the states. It will in no way decide that same sex marriage is unconstitutional because it can't without destroying the right's beloved states rights position. This decision would allow Prop 8 to stand and set in motion a vote to repeal Prop 8 in a state where same sex marriage now is favored by 67% of the voters. In California it's only a matter of time.

The other extreme, and to me just as unlikely, is that the court makes some sweeping decision that hypothetically legalizes same sex marriage nationwide. In all honesty this may be worse than the worst case I just mentioned because, while a reason to celebrate, it would just crystallize opposition from every direction. At the same time this possibly the best result for the Republican Party. Anybody in the party with any kind of sense could walk away from a no win issue, than again this is the Republican Party where common sense is currently in a limited supply.

What remains are the two middle options where I think the decision will fall. The first possibility is to simply uphold the decision of the Ninth Court of Appeals which says California, or any other state, can't take away a gay persons right to marry once the state has given them that right. At the time of the Appeals Court's decision it was thought Judge Reinhardt wrote it with SCOTUS in mind. This is the easiest way for Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy to rule in favor of same sex marriage in California and not have it effect the rest of the country. Along the same lines the court could simply dismiss the case allowing the Ninth's decision to stand as is.

But I think Roberts will do more as he did in ruling Obamacare was constitutional. John Roberts is a student of SCOTUS' history and sees his position as Chief Justice as caretaker of the court's legacy. With the rest of the government SCOTUS lives in a bubble but in the court's case it can be a very leaky bubble and public opinion has shifted twenty percent since 2008, Roberts knows this. Roberts also knows he will be on the court for a long time, he is 58, and probably doesn't want to be remembered for a decision that became meaningless while he was still on the court. It's probably just my gut feeling but I think Roberts and a majority of the court will go with the option favored by the Obama administration and rule that a state can't deny the word marriage to gays while granting them all the rights of marriage in civil unions. This decision would effect the states of California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Colorado.

History is a fickle thing but when its time comes nothing can stop it. Whatever the court decides I think history's time has come and sorry will be those on the wrong side of it. I just don't think John Roberts will be one of them.

update - Here is the link for the audio of this morning's Prop 8 hearing at the Supreme Court. The text should follow but I'm not sure when.

update 2 - I'm a little slow with this but here is the link to a pdf file of the hearing transcript. While I'm at it here is a link to SCOTUSblog which is a very good site to find out what is going on at the court.

Observations on Art 3.24

We stumbled onto a good list in the Art and Design section of Complex magazine's website, "100 Museums to Visit Before You Die." Like I said it's a good list but it doesn't say if it is in any kind of order. I don't see how it can be with MoMA at 56 while the Met is at 3, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is at 4, and the Louvre is at 7. I love the Philadelphia Museum but more than MoMA and the Louvre? No way. Another sure sign of no order is that something called The Simone Handbag Museum in Seoul, South Korea is in the first spot.

Of course everything becomes a competition so we had to compare who had been to what museum and I came out the winner at twenty four. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, The Drawing Center, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, International Center of Photography, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, The Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Arts and Design, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Phillips Collection, MAD Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, New York Historical Society, Centre Georges Pompidou, New Museum, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, American Museum of Natural History, Musée du Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

A few museums not on the list that I think should be are the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, the Shaanxi History Museum, and Shanghai's Museum of Contemporary Art. I think the list totally neglects Chinese art, the art and culture with the longest history, and concentrates on Japanese art.

Off the top of my head the museums on the list that I hope to get to are the Tate Modern, Palace of Versailles, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the Vatican Museums, Museo Reina Sofia, and the Hermitage. I suppose I need to spend some time in Europe unless I go to China instead. To bad I didn't win that big lottery last night.

Yes I have been busy but that still leaves 76 museums to visit. One less than that if I skip that purse museum in Seoul.