Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Tim Eyman to file state initiative to repeal GBLT civil rights protections in Washington State before the governor's ink is even on the paper;

"God's Senator" - Rolling Stone interview with and article about Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas); Brownback is the man lots of the theocons want as the next Republican nominee for president; you should read the whole thing;

Religious groups get "nearly one-quarter" of Bush administration AIDS money;

"More than a dozen states" are considering right-of-refusal for health care workers; about half are aimed at allowing pharmacists to refuse contraception prescribed and abortion services; the others are broad enough to permit refusal of any treatment for any moral reason, including refusal to treat queers; you've seen this before on this update, but now it's making it into the major newspapers;

Faith and Freedom Network asks for "God to STAY this issue from being put into effect"; "this issue" is the bill passed last week to ban anti-GBLT discrimination in housing, hiring, and lending;

Muslim fundamentalist reaction against a page of cartoons continues to grow; fundamentalism is the problem in any religion;

Newer story: Tim Eyman has filed BOTH an initiative AND a referendum to repeal GBLT civil rights protections; I still don't have the language of either, however; the referendum needs fewer signatures but has a shorter deadline; Eyman calls the bill's passage a "disgusting display of arrogance and selfishness";

Focus on the Family article on Alito debate cloture vote today;

Sen. Kent Conrad (D - North Dakota) to vote for Alito confirmation;

Wendy Wright appointed new president of Concerned Women for America;

Indiana house committee passes bill mandating that doctors tell patients that "life begins at conception";

Episcopal Diocese in Washington, DC approves same-sex blessing ceremonies; they're on hold pending a national convention; unofficial ceremonies have been around for a while but this is still a change;

Concerned Women for America story on a boy wearing a skirt to school to protest the dress code turns into a bizarre ramble about women in the military, the false idea of gender equity, a rant against women in sports (particularly Title IX rules), and the ACLU as the "American Sexual Confusion Union";

CWA Announces New President;

Human Events says left's "Culture of Death" gets little traction;

CWA congratulates Senate on cloture vote, calls for immediate confirmation vote on Alito;

Family Research Council's top-of-site page is about expecting President Bush to re-endorse a Federal anti-marriage-rights amendment to the US Constitution;

FRC anti-marriage-rights brochure says marrying your same-sex partner is the same as marrying a horse, will lead to bestiality, goes on to say that "homosexuality is rightly viewed as unnatural"; says lesbians are violent batterers, gay men are incapable of long-term relationships, all the usual things;

FRC attacks Senator Chafee (R-Rhode Island) for planned "no" vote on Alito over executive-power and reproductive choice issues;

Traditional Values Coalition links to WorldNetDaily columnist: homosexuality is "a public health disaster," quotes all kinds of laundered Paul Cameron studies and others of similar bogosity, but filtered - but I recognise these numbers and claims; still, the point is the propaganda: gayfolk are diseased perverts;

Eyman starts using "special rights" language of fundamentalists to define anti-discrimination protection; gets endorsement of Christian Coalition, who will work with him on his anti-gay initiative or referendum or both;

( Transcriptions, articles, press releases, excerpts )

Water, Water Everywhere

Remember that lake in the parking lot in Woodinville I mentioned from last Sunday? Here's what it looked like:


Woodinville Park and Ride

And here's the surprisingly decent second photograph I took - I wasn't really looking for art, I just clicked, but it came out well:


Flatiron Lake

And then, of course, yesterday, which prompted yesterday's post about zomg SO MUCH rain - we're within striking distance of the record for a January, if today turns out like yesterday. But we got a huge sun break in the afternoon, so after I got through yesterday's research papers, I went out just to get out into it, and took the camera.

The part-time creek that runs along the north edge of our property wasn't just active:


Murkworks North Creek

It was, as you can see in these movies, particularly in the large one, it was flooding its tiny banks:
Tiny movie, Murkworks North Creek - .4M
Much larger movie, Murkworks North Creek - 9.1M

The flow rate was pretty high, too:
Murkworks North Creek, stable shot - 2.7M

And we had two other spontaneous wanna-be creeks springing up, too!
Water overflow, driveway - 3.3M
Water overflow, south yard, near house - 6.6M

The road leading to our house has drainage on both sides; the north side is leafy and not much like a creek normally, but certainly looked like one yesterday.
Drainage on 184^TH - 4.9M

I walked down the hill a bit, to 180^TH, where there's this large shared garden where a creek that's probably fed by mine as well as others runs I think full-time, and it was high, but not over bank at all:


Deep Water Stream, 180^TH

And the intersection of that stream with another drainage ditch/stream was also running very high.


Red Reeds in Deep Water

That source had a good flow rate, too:


Cascade

And here's a movie with sound so you can hear it:
Surprising water, near 180^TH

The light was very, very nice, too. Right time of day, right kind of sky, very dramatic clouds. You'll be seeing some of these pictures soon. Here's the first of that set; I was actually trying to take a picture of an airplane, but I guess it was too far away for the camera. Still, the sky has some drama.


January Clouds over Lake Washington

Monday's mile: 1.0, taking those pictures.
Miles out of Hobbiton: 586.2
Miles out of Rivendell: 126.3
Miles to Lothlórien: 340