Recently in Where I live Category

Online voting through July 8. The press release says the winner will be announced July 15.

Thanks Stephen!

After 2 IDs and a father's protest, police refuse to acknowledge they got the wrong man:

"They just came in here like ants on candy," said Farley Blow, one of TJ Hill's uncles and a former Marine.

Last week was the first outing of the computer bus, dubbed Bus HOPE by the Parents Council. It was a wonderful success.

My friend, the filmmaker Julie Gustafson, shot video of the workshops for me. I intended to edit the piece this weekend. Procrastination set in. Maybe Wednesday?

The photo above was sent to me by a library friend. It's the Swedish Library Bus of the Year award winner by Peter Thuvander and Martin Hedenstrom of Swedish design group Muungano. Details and more photos.

I've spent the last two years arguing against Tom Schaller's Whistling Past Dixie. I remain grateful for Dean and Obama's 50-state strategy. But the results of the election convincingly show Schaller's diagnosis to be correct. I can still disagree about the cure.

Map from NYTimes homepage via Matt Yglasias.

A good day for C-SPAN and blogging. I only hope the power stays on.

2:11 PM UPDATE: It's still raining. And icing. Limbs are falling from the trees. We've got one line down going into our house but power and cable are still on. I got a call from the staff at the computer labs; power is off at school so we closed them down. I can only hope my router doesn't blow with all the power pops we're having here. My Mac just blinked off but the PC's hanging in there...

Our driveway. The yard is littered with limbs too.

The Oklahoma legislature outlawed cockfighting because of its cruelty to the roosters, which are slashed and pecked to death while human spectators bet on the outcome. A Democratic State Senator says it costs $100 million in business. (Where do they come up with these numbers?) His sollution:

To try to revive it, he has proposed that roosters wear little boxing gloves attached to their spurs, as well as lightweight, chicken-sized vests configured with electronic sensors to record hits and help keep score.

All Things Considered talked to him.

Staying in a borrowed house in Savannah, I had only broadcast television. No cable. At 11:30 this Sunday morning I tuned in. On five of the seven channels was Christian broadcasting. Here's some of what I did not hear:

The findings in numerous national polls conducted by highly respected pollsters like The Gallup Organization and The Barna Group are simply shocking. "Gallup and Barna," laments evangelical theologian Michael Horton, "hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general." Divorce is more common among "born-again" Christians than in the general American population. Only 6 percent of evangelicals tithe. White evangelicals are the most likely people to object to neighbors of another race. Josh McDowell has pointed out that the sexual promiscuity of evangelical youth is only a little less outrageous than that of their nonevangelical peers.

There's more, lots more, in "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience" in Christianity Today. And what's the proposed solution?

Weeping and repentance are the only faithful responses to the sweeping, scandalous disobedience in the evangelical world today.

Okay. What precisely does that mean?

It is a deep, heartfelt sorrow for offending the Holy Sovereign of the universe and a strong inner resolve to embrace the conversion—the complete reversal of direction—that our forgiving Savior longs to bestow.... Daily, we can pray to the Lord to transform us more and more into the very likeness of Jesus.

Somehow, I don't think that'll do it. But there is hope. Read on.

From an editorial in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution:

On Thursday, a federal judge summoned the courage and conviction to uphold the U.S. Constitution and thwart efforts by creationists to insert their religious beliefs into Georgia's public schools. U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the immediate removal of evolution disclaimers on high school science books in Cobb County, ruling that the controversial stickers ran afoul of the constitutional divide between church and state...In affixing the stickers to textbooks, the Cobb County school board wasn't looking to enhance the science education or critical thinking skills of students. Cornered by a petition with 2,300 signatures, board members were just bowing to public pressure.

Last night Nightline did a terrific piece on the creationist drive in Dover, PA to mandate that teachers read a statement about "Intelligent Design" during biology lessons. Hijacking the word "objectivity" and trying to cloak itself in science, "Intelligent Design" holds "that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause." And they're not talking extraterrestrials here.

At a party recently I had a conversation with a Georgia Military College biology teacher. A Brit who's the son-in-law of the Commandant, he spoke of the problems teaching biology here. For example some students flat out refuse to even listen in class. He believes the problem is Constitutional and boiled it down to this: the lack of religious education in school. He believes religion should be taught in school. All religion. World religion. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, you name it.

Now there's a thought. What would the creationists think of that?

As seen on various cars in the community.

It's been 70 degrees here every day for the last week and is scheduled to stay that way next week. So today we took the dogs and a picnic lunch to the Bartram Forest. We picked up sandwiches on the way at the Goodie Gallery. There was a slovenly young fellow with a Harley t-shirt which read:

I like snatching kisses.
And vice versa.

Now how are they going to blame that on the Blue States?

Train tracks snake in around and through this town that I live in. Very close to homes and Georgia College dorms. So I note the train wreck in Graniteville, SC, a ghost town now - 8 dead, 58 hospitalized, hundreds more treated, and thousands driven from their homes. From the New York Times:

Ten months ago, government safety officials warned that more than half of the nation's 60,000 pressurized rail tank cars did not meet industry standards, and they raised questions about the safety of the rest of the fleet as well. Their worry, that the steel tanks could rupture too easily in an accident, proved prophetic. On Thursday, a derailment in South Carolina caused a catastrophic release of chlorine.

The problem's not going away anytime soon. Because pressurized tank cars remain in service for up to 50 years, some could be hauling hazardous chemicals through Milledgeville in 2039. What's needed is strong government safety regulations, similar to those imposed on the airline industry. My Republican neighbors would disagree.

After reading the NY Review of Books article earlier, I finally sat down and watched the Frontline documentary, "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" that has been sitting on my TiVo since November. From the transcript, after a sequence describing the role Wal-Mart played in the demise of Rubbermaid:

HEDRICK SMITH: [voice-over] It seemed to me that it wasn't just a plant dying, a set of corporate values was passing away. Ten years ago, Rubbermaid, with its reputation for quality, was named most admired. Last year, Wal-Mart, with its reputation for its cost-cutting, was most admired.

[on camera] If you look at the shift from Rubbermaid as the most admired company in 1994 and Wal-Mart as the most admired company today, in terms of the larger American economy, what does that mean? What does that say about the touchstones of success?

Prof. GARY GEREFFI, Duke University: Rubbermaid represented an innovation-oriented high road towards U.S. competitiveness. I think Wal-Mart represents a cost-driven, low-price low road towards U.S. competitiveness. And in a sense, they're two dramatically different styles in which the U.S. economy can be organized. I think the Wal-Mart model is winning out.

Now the problem is, even though this isn't news to me, I shop at Wal-Mart. Not often and only for the most trivial stuff, but if even I am drawn there by cheap stuff, how do we ever change things? I won't shop there again.

Doug forwarded me this New York Review of Books article on Wal-Mart. Its well documented thesis, the exploitation of the working poor is central to the business strategy of the world's largest and most powerful corporation. Some highlights:

As of last spring, the average pay of a sales clerk at Wal-Mart was $8.50 an hour, or about $14,000 a year, $1,000 below the government's definition of the poverty level for a family of three. Despite the implied claims of Wal-Mart's current TV advertising campaign, fewer than half— between 41 and 46 percent—of Wal-Mart employees can afford even the least-expensive health care benefits offered by the company.

...One of the most telling of all the criticisms of Wal-Mart is to be found in a February 2004 report by the Democratic Staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee. In analyzing Wal-Mart's success in holding employee compensation at low levels, the report assesses the costs to US taxpayers of employees who are so badly paid that they qualify for government assistance even under the less than generous rules of the federal welfare system. For a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store, the government is spending $108,000 a year for children's health care; $125,000 a year in tax credits and deductions for low-income families; and $42,000 a year in housing assistance. The report estimates that a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers $420,000 a year, or about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee. That translates into a total annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million US employees.

Wal-Mart is also a burden on state governments. According to a study by the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2003 California taxpayers subsidized $20.5 million worth of medical care for Wal-Mart employees. In Georgia ten thousand children of Wal-Mart employees were enrolled in the state's program for needy children in 2003, with one in four Wal-Mart employees having a child in the program.

The article concludes that there is every prospect this strategy and its harsh practices will continue to spread throughout the economy. One industry I often wonder about is the airline industry. We hear that the new upstart airlines are efficient and not burdened by the legacy costs of the older carriers. What are the legacy costs? Better working conditions, higher pay and pension plans. I thought a goal of civil society was a higher standard of living, instead large swaths of our society face a deteriorating one.

Athens, home of the University of Georgia (and Doug's hometown) is sometimes called "the Berkeley of the south." Somehow I don't think you'd find this story out of Berkeley:

[University of Georgia Cheerleading coach Marilou] Braswell was fired Aug. 23, two weeks after she read a prepared statement informing cheerleaders that teammate Jaclyn Steele had made allegations of religious discrimination against her.

Braswell, who coached for 12 years, claims the athletic association tried to deprive her of her First Amendment freedom of speech and free exercise of religion, as well as 14th Amendment due process and equal protection rights.

Braswell, who wiped away tears as Thrash made his ruling, insisted after the hearing "I have never discriminated against anybody."

Steele, who is Jewish, and another Jewish cheerleader first complained that Braswell gave unfavorable treatment to non-Christian cheerleaders and others who did not participate in pregame prayers and Bible studies at Braswell's home.

The university investigated their complaint and placed Braswell on probation while ordering Steele to be placed on the football cheerleading squad without a tryout.

A good number of folks around here are in general agreement that it's anti-Christian to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Earlier in the season I heard a call on the radio to boycott Macy's because they were saying the offending phrase. Personally, I don't get it. I find it troubling that a gesture towards inclusion is turned into a slight. What do you do with that? Kevin Drum comments on the attention the issue is getting in the mainstream media and wonders how they are so successful at getting their message out and how can liberals copy it?

UPDATE: It Affects You goes off on the fact that Bush started his press conference this morning with happy holidays!

UPDATE: Ross Douthat from The American Scene is guest blogging at AndrewSullivan.com. He chimes in with this.

I just got back from lunch. On the radio I heard an ad asking that we boycott Target and visit Wal-Mart instead. The fundamentalist Christian community is up in arms that Target has banned Salvation Army solicitors from their stores. Even some liberals seem to be upset about the ban, but mainly it's the Christians. Myself, I don't much care. I don't really see it as anti-Christian on Target's part (their corporate statement is here) and if I were to take up the cudgel of free speech in the private sphere, it wouldn't likely be on behalf of an evangelical Christian charity.

It surprised me to hear this locally produced issue advocacy ad on our little country radio station. "Star Station" WLRR 100.7 is a one man operation run from a personal computer out of his home by Craig Baker. The station plays "standards" (in monaural!) that seem so old as to all be in the public domain. I talked to Craig last year when I was looking for work and, as an advocate of local independent media, I was impressed with what he put together and enjoyed what he had to say.

He believes the most important part of his programming is his commercials. He has no DJs so they are the only original content he's got. He goes out and records, edits and writes them on his own, on the spot, with the local merchants. Now that's local radio. The ads all have personality, reflecting this time and place like no other media around here. One of my favorites is for Farmers and Merchants Bank, which is touting how it's now technologically up to date because it just added "telephone banking."

I've listened to the station since I've lived here and Craig was right, I listen for the commercials. Lately I've noticed a decidedly Christian turn to the station. Maybe Craig's found a new market and is selling them ads like hotcakes. Maybe he's playing to his Bible-belt audience. Maybe he's a fundamentalist Christian himself (the topic didn't come up in our conversation though I pointedly mentioned my gay partner). I don't know. What I do know is the station's quite popular; Craig knows his market. And Target knows theirs. My friends, who like me travel to Macon to shop at Target, all want one to open up here. I won't hold my breath.

A faculty friend formally reported three instances of plagiarism last week. Ironically, the guilty students were all fundamentalist Christian Bush supporters. Doug points out that these "cut-and-paste writers" violated at least two of the Commandments...

A bumper sticker on a red pickup truck with an American flag decal in the window pulling into the parking lot of Huddle House:

I LOVE MY COUNTRY BUT I FEAR MY GOVERNMENT

This even with a Bush victory...

I've been looking all day for a transcript (found it, see the extended entry) from last night's Nightline, which focused on the 2.6 ton Ten Commandments monument that Judge Roy Moore had installed in a Mississippi courtroom. You will likely recall that it was ordered removed. Turns out that it's now on tour. A guy from American Veterans in Domestic Defense (!) got himself a flatbed truck and a driver and is hauling the thing all over the south. The website for the tour, standingforgod.org, has been down since this morning. I went there looking to see if the monument would be coming to my town. People here sure would like it if it did.

I wanted the transcripts so I could quote directly from those interviewed for the show. I wanted to share with you the kind of sentiment I hear expressed in my "Middle Georgia" community. Coming from New York as I do, you'll understand it's not the worldview I'm used to hearing. But here getting the Ten Commandments hung in court houses is the biggest issue since the Georgia Heritage Coalition (why am I surprised they're still in business?) took up the fight to retain the Confederate battle flag as part of the Georgia State Flag. For $4.50 you can get a Ten Commandments sign from Ten Commandments America for your lawn. Many here have them. How many? In New York during the Republican Convention you couldn't walk the street without seeing a "Say no to the Bush agenda" banner (mine was a birthday gift from Howard & Alex). I'd say it's proportionally equivalent. The Ten Commandments signs are to here, as the "Say no to Bush" banners are to there.

Now that doesn't make me real comfortable. The Ten Commandments crowd tends to believe I'm going to hell. But the thing is, I believe we've got to live together, and no matter where we live we'll have people we don't agree with. My experience here has been that everyone is nice as can be to me. Doug plays organ in half the churches in town. All the church folk seem to like us. I've had some try to save me, sway me to their ways. Their religion tells tham that's the godly, the christian thing to do. I'm not sure what the best thing for me to do is. For the moment, I think finding common ground is a good thing. I only wish that's the way they felt.