Recently in Where I live Category

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?