Today's Cultural Warfare Update

US Rep. Hostettler defends anti-Jewish harassment at the Air Force Academy, accuses Democrats of being "by nature, anti-Christian" and of waging a "war on Christianity" - Focus on the Family issues an action item to send him thanks and to send letters to your own senators and representatives supporting him;

FotF runs another article denouncing any link between biology and sexual orientation - this time, attacking the recent fruit-fly study showing that at least in some animals, there's a clear link. Dr. Throckmorton (Ph.D., psychology) appears to be angling to be the new Paul Cameron. Also, they say that even if a biological basis is found, that doesn't matter either - apparently paving the route for their next argument if a biological basis is confirmed ("We are called to a higher standard than mere animal instinct");

FotF article; Rehnquist's replacement unlikely to be more conservative than Rehnquist - odd article, not sure why they ran it;

FotF article on an "ex-gay" film being "offered to public schools nationwide" - lots of support from Throckmorton again (see above) - "If schoolslook at this film and decide not to use it, it will only be because they're biased against the ex-gay perspective";

Marriage rights bill may be reintroduced in California;

FotF accuses West Virginia court of "redefining parenthood" by awarding custody of a child to the deceased lesbian biological mother's partner - also claims the accident that killed the mother was while they were "driving home from an all-night party at a gay bar";

Today's Family News in Focus;

Concerned Women for America article on CARE Act, requiring licensed pharmacists dispense emergency contraception in rape cases;

Christian Post article supporting Parents Right to Know Act (see today's FNIF);

American Family Association condemns West Virginia court over custody award, calls the ruling "lethal";

Agape Press long article against marriage rights;

Republican governor of Indiana attacked by fundamentalist groups for nondiscrimination policy, refusal to endorse Federal anti-marriage amendment;

Gay biological father refused custody of his child on the basis of having a same-sex parnter.

( Transcriptions and excerpts )

somewhere in the distance

This is very much a Convergence Zone day. Lots of rain, lots of clouds, cool - it's really nice, actually. ^_^ And hopefully it's washing some of the grass and nettle pollen out of the air. I haven't had any blinding, migrane-like sinus headaches yet this year, which makes it better than the last couple of years, but yesterday was still pretty bad - or rather, the night before last was, with yet another night of very little sleep. I think I got a reasonable sleep total last night - I only woke up twice, which is good. I'm a little dazed and a little dizzy today, but that's the worst of it.

I'm really looking forward to the end of this pollen cycle. When my allergies are extra bad, if I go biking, I can really get taken out. So I'm kind of leery about biking to murksouth on sunny days now, which takes out most of my biking time. It should be better by July, though. I hope. Strangely, yesterday's allergy shot was no problem.

Work at 5038 is proceeding apace; I'm going to go down today in a little while and see what I can get done. Scrubbing the bathroom closet - where we used to have the cat box, it's a weird 1911 gravity shower that got the plumbing taken out some time ago, but the showerhead was left in, tho' disconnected, and as such is a great conversation piece - took a lot of work, and on a hot, hot day on top of it all. But it's sparkly now. (Honestly, it cleans up a lot better than I'd remembered - as can be said for the entire main house. I didn't scrub the walls when we moved in, and it turns out the previous people hadn't done that either, and probably never had, so the place is noticeably brighter. Surprise! Even the floral wallpaper in the kitchen that I never, ever liked is better when cleaned down to like-new.)

Anime night has been showing Farscape, which I don't really like - but I've been taking advantage of it lately to draw and work on ideas for some projects I want to pursue in grad school research. Last night, I did - and, being too sleepy, botched - a bit of circuit math. But the basics of what I was noodling through were sound, and I'm starting to get used to thinking about some of these problems again, which is good.

It's going to have a weird little interface, though. I have to admit that. But I've got an old book (The Cheap Video Handbook, circa 1978 or so - I found it used several years ago and grabbed it as potentially interesting) from which I'm pretty sure I'll be able to leverage EE material, which is good, since I'm really weak in that area.

Over the weekend, I helped spazzkat with a couple of truckloads of stuff - furniture, mostly - from his old apartment over to here. So I got a pretty good workout on Saturday from that, which makes up for no biking or much walking on the weekend. I'm enjoying having the house up to four people again, too. I like when it feels like stuff is going on. ^_^ I've put something to keep the door downstairs open so that Polly can visit. We're thinking about putting a kitty door in that door, and possibly in the laundry room door as well, once we have monex again.

Anyway, having now had lunch, I should finish this little write-up I've got to do for a local convention, and then get back do doing actual things. No flower picture today; the weather keeps changing and nothing else has opened up yet! A few things are on the way, though, so hopefully I'll have something soon.

Friday's miles: 2.0
Monday's miles: 2.5
Miles out of Hobbiton: 239.5. Halfway up Weathertop. Should be a nice view!
Miles to Rivendell: 217.8