Today's Cultural Warfare Update

These are going to be kind of spotty for a little while, as I'm sure you've already noticed; this whole coming week is going to be more than a little nuts, with annathepiper's thyroid surgery on Tuesday, and then the NASFiC (CascadiaCon - http://cascadiacon.org - the North American Science Fiction Convention, in Seattle) the following week. So... well, like I said: a little nuts. But by a week into September, when things are likely to be heating up again anyway, I'll be back and able to be more on top of all this.

FotF cheers appeals court ruling on prohibition of military-wife abortion;

FotF accuses Richmond, VA sexual-minourity youth organisation of funneling boys to adult gay men for sex - includes action item (ACTION ITEM);

Agape Press runs news article talking about the same group, accusing them of promoting pedophilia;

FotF newsbrief claims a journal editor was fired for publishing a piece on intelligent design;

FotF and the Eagle Forum defends Roberts's comment about not encouraging homemakers to become lawyers;

FotF Action Item against CBS's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, scheduled for November sweeps (ACTION ITEM);

FotF continues to advocate that stem-cell research is Nazi science;

FotF: Kansas Atty. General sues governor, seeking court order stopping state money from being spent on abortion-related services on grounds that a foetus is a person protected by the Kansas state constitution's bill of rights;

CWFA wonk Warren Throckmorton complains about "raunchy" books in school English courses;

LifeSite.com accuses environmentalists of genocide over the banning of DDT;

Anti-civil-rights-protections side in Maine argues that civil rights protection for GBLT people would lead to gay marriage;

Family Research Council action item: Ban RU-486 (ACTION ITEM);

Traditional Values Coalition: Roberts supports "voluntary school prayer";

TVC: "[homosexual/cross dressing] community" opposes Roberts, and that alone is reason to support him.

( Articles and excerpts below )

Busy busy busy

annathepiper and I got in a decent bike ride to Woodinville today, where she picked up a set of DVDs paid for by some of her recent WTF overtime, which we kind of shouldn't spend, but then, on the other hand, she's going to be recovering from surgery for a week, so, well, there you go.

Last night's poker night turned into the single lamest session of poker I personally have ever played, even compared to nights when I've lost more. (This is penny poker, so I lost all of $2.80 over three hours of play, so it's still cheaper than, say, a rental movie.) To give you some idea of how lame it was: the one genuinely good hand I had all night had everyone else folding before I even got to bet after the flop. It was that kind of a night.

The best thing coming out of it, though, was that Anna got talked into being a judge between spazzkat's and kathrynt's argument over which movie is worse: Alien Express, a sci-fi channel original starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Todd "Diff'rnt Strokes" Bridges, featuring model helicopters thrown against pictures of buildings, and On Deadly Ground, the two-hour intestinal chokefest environmental anti-oil action film starring, written, and directed by Steven Seagal, spelled like the football team's cheerleaders, only completely, horribly different in every other way.

So. Two more weeks of complete crazy, then a little bit better - at least, for a little while, I hope!

Today's miles: 14.5. Cool troll sculptures. Not as cool as the one under the bridge in Seattle, since they aren't eating a VW, but still pretty cool.
Miles out of Hobbiton: 402.3
Miles to Rivendell: 56

And today's flower picture - always needed after a political post to cleanse the palate:


Tiny Aliens (or maybe Muppet Flowers)

And a bonus picture:


Leaf