Art La Flamme

CNN is just now starting to talk about a 1.5 meter by 1 meter hole under the railbed, and Russian assertions that — gasp! — this tragic accident may not be an accident but indeed the work of (dum, dum, DUM!) terrorists.

Well, of course it’s terrorism. Investigators have shown up and have begun to ask questions of the locals — have there been strangers in the area recently? Maybe Chechens? Or some other terrorists from the North Caucasus region?

I have no doubt that it’s terrorism, and would not be surprised in the least if it turns out to be tied to Grozny or Russia’s own internal Muslim conflict. Basayev may be dead, but the conflict rages on, the issues remain unresolved.

And it will be interesting, in these next couple of days, to see how the US responds to Russian cries about the threat she faces from Muslim terrorists. Sometimes, Russia and others like the US see eye to eye on the subject, but not always. I wonder how it will play out this time.

Darkness in the neighborhood

This was the view of my world, an hour before the start of 30 June. Dark, quite, not much moon. Alone. Many people, I suspect, fear darkness because of the great unknown. I have come to embrace it, for all the potential it holds. It’s fitting, then, that this was my image heading into 30 June.
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I read an interesting article in the USA Today. The article was on the death of Del Martin, a longtime gay rights activist. She is often cited as having played a critical role in changing gay rights, ultimately leading to legalized marriage for all in California.

In reading the article, one thing struck me:

In 100 years, when people study the history of this era, what will they see as being the tipping point for the change in the role of gays and the view of homosexuality in our society?

I wonder. I’m not sure it was any one thing. Was it getting the medical community to recognize that being gay isn’t some mental disease or mental defect? Was if the first same-sex kiss on public television? Was it the first chip in the American legal system that allowed, even if temporarily, legal same-sex marriages?