Today's Cultural Warfare Update

I haven't been getting my Focus on the Family updates lately. I don't know why; maybe they've sussed me out! I hope not. If they have, well, it's not like I can't get another email address and sign right back up. @whee.

And having typed all that, today's finally comes in. Yay. Regardless, today's FotF main broadcast is all about why Alito needs confirming and now; I haven't transcribed any of it because I'm so late already. I'll poke at that later. Tomorrow is Part 2, I'll give it a listen and see whether there's anything interesting in it.

But now, today's news:

Eastside fundamentalist pastor Ken Hutcherson to seek national boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard over their support for GBLT rights protections; to announce boycott on Focus on the Family's main daily broadcast;

Focus on the Family calls for stronger anti-"indecency" legislation, including higher fines;

FotF unhappy with US Supreme Court ruling on Oregon assisted-suicide law;

FotF action item to mail legislators just in general about anti-abortion issues;

Massachusetts wants churches to have same accounting requirements as other non-profits; FotF calls it a violation of the first amendment;

FotF wants laws against "drive-by porn"; I actually think that video screens should be positioned in such a way that they can't be seen by other drivers, too, because god damn those things are distracting. I think they're hazards to navigation;

Monday's Family News in Focus;

Washington Times: theoconservatives mostly divided or staying out of DC Republican Majority Leader race, though the Discovery Institute prefers Rep. Boehner for his pro-creationism actions in the past; really, they're happy with all of the candidates;

Concerned Women for America condemns Golden Globes over awards for Brokeback Mountain, Desperate Housewives, other shows and films they hate;

LA Times article on fundamentalist groups working with the Bush administration to push their agenda overseas;

CWA applauds Laura Bush for pro-abstinence comments;

Family Research Council demands immediate vote on Alito;

FRC ACTION ITEM to get anti-marriage petitions in to your churches by Sunday, January 22nd so they can be gotten to the Secretary of State on time;

FRC unhappy with Supreme Court over assisted-suicide ruling;

American Family Association applauds Ohio decision to keep "Intelligent Design"-related "Teach the Controversy" materials in their science classes;

AFA's AgapePress newsbriefs upset that a gay actor played a Christian missionary in "Tip of the Spear"; also criticises Golden Globe awards for Brokeback Mountain, plugs Hutcherson's anti-Microsoft/HP boycott, and includes a note on a possible Conservative revisiting of marriage rights in Canada;

Focus on the Family interview with Jan LaRue, Concerned Women for America; includes a pro-Alito ACTION ITEM;

Democratic senator Ben Nelson (Nebraska) to vote for Alito; ACTION ITEM to thank him;

FotF complaints about delay in Alito committee vote;

FotF: "Intelligent design loses in California";

San Francisco reacts badly to anti-abortion poster campaign.

( Articles and excerpts )

A million little pieces. Or, okay, about five pieces, whatever.

After today, I have only one more leaf picture to post. I like it, but it's subtle. This is the last of the bright ones, and it was taken at the Lake Forest Park shops, by the bank, in December. Finding it was a big surprise.


Tooth and Tiger Claw

Yesterday, annathepiper and I took the 331 to Home Depot and got some wide-spectrum bulbs for the previously-useless overhead fixture in the living room. The 331 isn't a very good bus, because at best, it's every half hour, and that's just lame. Still, it goes to Home Depot, so it's much better than no bus.

Apparently there are two versions of it, though; one that's faster and does not go around Ballinger Lake, and one that's slower and does. I can't see anything on the schedule to show which is which, but the previous time I took this bus, it definitely went around that lake, and this time, it didn't. Which means that for people who live up there, the bus sucks even harder, and they get, what, bus service once an hour? That's just sad. Every 30 minutes should be the bare minimum, and most routes should be every 15, if you want to be serious about it.

Anyway, the wide-spectrum bulbs are nice. I like them on dreary days. And they don't take much power, being compact florescent. So yay!

Sunday's token: 0.1
Monday's miles: 1.8
Tuesday's token: 0.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 570.2
Miles out of Rivendell: 110.4
Miles to Lothlórien: 356

Also in Yay! news, I have my very own anonymous crank! Yay! Okay, children, everybody point and laugh!

Speaking of which - Malarkey? Or Effective Way? (Clickie, damn you! You know you wanna!)

( Alternate take, same leaves )