Today's Cultural Warfare Update

So get this. State Senator Patricia Miller (R), the Health Finance Commission Chair in the Indiana State Senate, has introduced a bill banning reproductive medical assistance for any unmarried person (violation carries criminal penalties at the misdemeanor level), and requiring married couples to go through adoption screening and get a certificate from the state before they can undergo such treatment, if said treatment requires donor material from any third party;

American Veterans in Domestic Defense (AVIDD) to protest "pornographic" books in Texas libraries - specifically, books with any GBLT characters or too many bad words as part of their campaign against "domestic enemies";

Colorado senator Salazar wants to know what "secret" James Dobson claims to know about Supreme Court judicial nominee Harriet Miers;

Focus on the Family sends out a SPECIAL REPORT saying that Dobson will explain his support for Harriet Miers on today's main Focus on the Family broadcast;

Focus on the Family main broadcast transcription (rough); rough summary; I know Miers's pastor, I know people around her, she's a tithe-paying member of a very conservative church; I know things I can't talk about firsthand, not hearsay; trust me, she's one of us;

FotF's take on the Oregon assisted-suicide Supreme Court case;

FotF's take on various anti-abortion cases coming to the SCOTUS;

Wisconsin to be location of authorised stem-cell research lines - FotF says it's still murdering babies;

Federal appeals court allows Ohio's 24-hour waiting period for abortion services to take effect; also invokes parental notification;

Civil Union bill in Connecticut takes effect; Family Institute of Connecticut calls it "tragic";

Roy Moore (Alabama) to run for Governor;

Wiccan vet tries to get appropriate symbol approved for headstone; no luck yet;

Hospital turns away neopagan group's fundraiser and orders them not to use their name in any future charitable fundraisers; donations now going to a South Dakota reservation;

Agape Press article on various reactions by social conservatives to Harriet Myers;

Miers donated to an anti-abortion group in Texas, but nobody there really remembers her as being particularly involved;

Family Research Council adopts "wait and see" on Miers;

FRC rails against "gender-changing" Ronald McDonald after seeing a McDonald's commercial in Japan with a female clown - no, really.

( Transcriptions, excerpts, press releases, the lot )

i never did post this

I made PDF files of all the issues of FaxCascadia, the newsletter I edited/produced at the NASFiC, CascadiaCon. I've had them up for a few weeks for pickup, but since they haven't made it to the official site yet, I thought I'd put them up here. Both standard edition and large type are posted for whatever amusement you might get out of them. They're here. ^_^

On a similar vein, I've been curious for a while whether anybody would by CafePress mugs or T-shirts with my League of Disgruntled Software Workers graphic on them. I know Cafe Press isn't much to write home about, but it's free to set up. Thoughts?

Here's two paragraphs that aren't enough to expand into a complete post about the position Saudi Arabia is in, but I didn't want to forget them or throw them out, so I'm putting them here:

The Saudi Arabian electricity and desalinization plant systems are fired by natural gas. 70% of their water comes from these plants. Their population is continuing to spiral upwards. Funny how making the female half of your population into chattel slaves will do that.

They start to run out of expansion capacity right around 2010, maybe a little after. Accordingly, they are desperate to find the massive supplies of natural gas to power new plants. They have largely failed to get world-class companies involved in this, despite serious attempts and initial interests, tho' they are working with Russian and Chinese companies to build out capacity and open new natural gas fields. Matthew Simmons relates the story of how their initial attempts to do this with larger, better well known companies failed; I've verified substantial portions of what he says in his book from separate accounts. He more specifically relates that he was told the larger companies bailed because the Saudi dry gas reservoirs are, in a word, lousy. This raises the possibility that they may even have to import natural gas, which won't help their economic situation very much.

Yes, this does mean I finally finished the second read-through of Twilight in the Desert. For better or for worse, it holds up well. If money works out well, I'll buy a copy later.

Monday's mile: 1.0
Tuesday's mile: 1.1
Wednesday's token: 0.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 473.8
Miles out of Rivendell: 14.0
Miles to Lothlórien: 452.4

And today's flower picture, another one from that P-Patch on Ravenna Avenue:


Stoplight Flowers

And a picture of some trees, taken down at the shops - the tress are actually across Bothell Way, between the shops and Lake Washington:


First Trees of Autumn

( memage and similar junque )