Peep! Peep!
We're featuring photos all this week in hopes that readers will respond to our survey question. But we can't let recent events go without comment, so today's post contains two parts, joined at the headline. First, the photo:
If this had been a human family in the park instead of an avian one, I admit I wouldn't have invaded their privacy by taking pictures. This mother bird had several other children with her, but they were too far away to show up in this close-up.
Speaking of invading privacy, both Pope John Paul II, leader of a major religious institution, and George W. Bush, whose job is supposed to be separate from religion, have come out, so to speak, in opposition to same-sex marriage. As has already been pointed out most eloquently by Ohrada News, the window-peeping, pedophile-protecting pontiff is not only reaching beyond his jurisdiction, but making a bizarre choice of priorities. If the Pope wants to rule that the Catholic Church recognizes only different-sex marriages between people who either have never been married before or are widowed, and only those whose union was authorized by a (possibly pedophilic) priest, then he can go right ahead and do that, as he's the top guy in the Catholic Church. But the United States of America is not a church. Right now, the civil institution of marriage in every one of those United States is set up in a discriminatory manner. If the government of one of those states, either by judicial, legislative, or electoral action, changes that civil institution so that it is no longer discriminatory, then the Catholic Church and all other religious institutions can still make whatever rules they want for their own members. If the Catholic Church gets to decide on civil matters, then why not let other religions do the same? The Bahai faith, for example, requires everyone who marries, no matter their age, to get permission from their parents. But the law does not. Yet you don't see the Bahai religion going around demanding that their rule be imposed on others.
My own prediction (a peep into the future, as 'twere): In the United States, the issue will not be decided legislatively, but judicially, by one or more state supreme courts. Once one state has equal marriage rights, those who want the protection of that institution will do as they have already done in Canada and travel there for their weddings. Then other states will have to decide whether to recognize them, and if they don't, all heck will break loose because if one state doesn't recognize a legal marriage from another, the federal system itself will be seriously undermined, possibly leading to a disuniting of some or all of the United States. Considering what would be lost if that happened, at that point the window-peepers may realize what's at stake, and they might even go back home, mind their own business, and leave their neighbors alone. Politicians beholden to the religious right will make some noise and introduce a constitutional amendment, but by then there will be thousands of same-sex marriages and the amendment will be abandoned, except by a few anachronistic busybodies who will reintroduce it now and then in hopes that will be enough to mollify their right-wing constituents. Meanwhile, the hundreds and thousands of criminal proceedings against all those pedophile priests will continue, taking even longer to resolve than the 2,191.78 years estimated for the Recording Industry Association of America to sue the estimated 60 million music file-sharers in the U.S.
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @10:22 AM
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2.8.03  |
Why the Hudson is a difficult place to sail: A photo essay
So far, so good:
Oops! Watch out for that pier!
OK, the mainsail's up and catching the wind:
Uh-oh: there are even bigger piers on the Manhattan side!
Watch out for that ferry!
That was close! Now what? Looks like the harbor patrol:
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:58 PM
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1.8.03 |
A number of barges and other floating objects
Another quarter mile upstream and this poor vessel would have washed ashore not in Frank Sinatra Park but at the Hoboken dry dock, where it might have gotten some help. Dry dock workers are still busy restoring Barge No. 45 (that's the Staten Island Ferry in the background, right in front of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge):
Meanwhile, one of No. 45's relatives, Barge No. 160, keeps on working with the help of a tugboat or two:
Speaking of tugboats, here's the tug Vulcan pushing yet another barge (number unknown) upstream:
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:26 PM
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31.7.03 |
Things with wings
From dawn to dusk and then some, Hoboken is abuzz with winged objects of all sorts.
Some small:
Some large:
Some inanimate:
Some on the water:
Some just out for a stroll:
But we seem to see more of these than any other kind:
Have you responded to this week's survey question yet? If not, please do.
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:16 PM
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30.7.03 |
Jersey fresh*
Here in the most densely populated county of the nations's most densely populated state, we don't have a lot of room to grow vegetables. Fortunately for a few delicious weeks each summer, the farmers and their harvest come to us for the Tuesday afternoon Farmer's Market. They may be far outnumbered by us city dwellers, but New Jersey's farmers produce so much food that we actually export some.
They say New Jersey produces more than 100 kinds of fruits and vegetables, and I'd say most of them were represented at today's market. I only bought two kinds: green beans and potatoes.
*When the New Jersey Department of Agriculture uses this term, it's "Jersey Fresh."
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @6:16 PM
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29.7.03 |
Sailing the waves (and wakes)
Another lovely summer day, and a lovely summer photo to match. Photos are the subject of this week's survey question: are there enough on this blog? Too many? The wrong kind or the wrong size? Let us know: click here to answer.
The results of last week's survey are in: two-thirds of respondents said the space program should be a top priority, while a third said it was important, but we have more urgent priorities.
Here's another view of the same scene, from the Towercam:
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:40 PM
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28.7.03 |
Stars, stripes, and signature?
Flag desecration is not a crime in this country, though every year an amendment banning it is introduced in Congress. So the man in this photograph is not breaking the law by autographing the flag. But he is not respecting generally accepted flag etiquette. According to the Daughters of the American Revolution, "The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature."
I've been studying up on just such things as I wait to hear back from the DAR about my membership application, because respect for the flag is one of the things the DAR has been teaching since its founding in 1890. The more I look through my family history, the more Revolutionary War ancestors I find. This morning, for example, I discovered four more patriot ancestors who served in the Continental Army, all on my mother's side:
William J. IV Duncan, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
Benjamin Duncan, his son (and my great-great-great-great grandfather), "volunteered for service of the U.S. under Capt. Cowan under the command of General Sumpter for three months" and "entered the service a second time for three months under Capt. John Cleveland, commanded by Col. Malvedar, General Lee and General Morgan Wilkes Co" according to records posted by one of my distant cousins.
Joseph, Sr., Frost, my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, born in 1712, was a "Revolutionary War soldier," as was his grandson, Micajah Frost, my great-great-great-great grandfather, who is listed among those who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain. So far I haven't found any evidence that Thomas Frost, Sr., Micajah's father and Joseph, Sr.'s son, fought in the Revolution, but Thomas Frost, Sr., is credited with building the "first house of record" in what is now Anderson County, Tennessee, and one source calls him "the first known white settler in Anderson County, Tennessee." Thomas Frost, Sr., may have been a preacher: his brother John Frost was, and he established the first Baptist church in what is now Tennessee. In 1795, Micajah Frost and his brother Elijah bought 1000 acres in the hills of what was then North Carolina and is now Tennessee: that area became known as Frost Bottom and is said to be named after Micajah. You can find some old photos of Frost Bottom here and here.
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @3:12 PM
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27.7.03 |
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