Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Note that I've been providing some rebuttals to the anti-GBLT "talking points" that Faith and Freedom has been putting out - see the actual article bits below. Fun articles today include Focus on the Family's condemnation of a California bill that would require state public school texts and lesson plans not be anti-gay, and an absolutely stunning number of action items.

Focus on the Family story on the Boy Scouts and Federal facilities;

FotF upset that Minnesota did not pass an anti-marriage amendment out of the Senate;

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) announces support for marriage rights for gay and lesbian people;

Arizona legislature passes "fetal pain" measure, requiring doctors to tell women that "preborn babies can feel pain";

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against a California legislature bill requiring that public school textbooks and teaching plans not include anti-GBLT lessons; FotF's quote is that public school teachings not "adversely affect persons because of their gender -- either real or perceived -- or sexual orientation"; Focus on the Family opposes the bill because they want public school teachers to be able to bring in anti-gay messages as part of their teaching plans, saying that "California teachers would be barred from offering opposing view[s]";

Fundamentalist groups Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund suing Wisconsin for not including the Association of Faith-Based Organisations in the statewide employee charitable campaign; the reason Wisconsin doesn't include them is because they engage in overt religious discrimination and state law requires that organisations participating comply with state anti-discrimination law; CLS, ADF, and Focus on the Family want religious organisations exempted from said law;

The Thomas More Law Center and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights sue San Francisco for the that city council's condemnation of The Vatican's anti-gay stance;

Focus on the Family promotes the AFA action against Target, which has come under fire for carrying the DVD release of the Academy Award winning film Brokeback Mountain;

Rhode Island rejects "abstinence-only" education; FotF and "Heritage of Rhode Island," a group I've never heard of before, are both cranky about it;

FotF article complimenting itself for its international anti-gay activities, specifically the push of "ex-gay" theology in Spain;

Homeland Security sets up "faith-based" office; I'm glad someone has faith in them, since I certainly don't;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM promotes anti-marriage amendment in Colorado;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to call in and demand a Federal anti-marriage amendment;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM to contact the New York Stock Exchange condemning Ford Motor Corporation for its pro-gblt-equality stances;

American Family Association scare piece on California's SB 1437; they say it "could" require unisex bathrooms and ban the words "husband" and "wife";

AFA demands censure of Pennsylvania state official for opposing their anti-gay efforts in the state;

Fundamentalist stockholder group tries to remove GBLT workplace protections from Ford Motor; the measure is expected to fail, but AFA is using that expected failure to bash Ford Motor; also, they take credit (via implication) for Ford's financial problems;

"Embryo adoption" people mad that they got left out of a CBS News report on extra embryos left over from fertility treatment;

Traditional Values Coalition promotes the creationist Discovery Institute's brochure on the 2005 Kansas Science Standards;

Family Research Council press release criticising John McCain for not being anti-gay enough in his Liberty University speech;

FRC ACTION ITEM - the anti-marriage amendment in Arizona is having trouble gathering signatures, they're calling for help;

FRC ACTION ITEM - the Maryland legislature has passed a stem-cell research bill; Family Research Council wants it vetoed; they're having their membership ask the governor to veto it;

FRC ACTION ITEM - for a California initiative on parental notification;

Concerned Women for America condemn as letting "loose the wolves among the sheep" the document I linked to earlier setting up a civil groundwork for discussion of GBLT issues in schools;

Faith and Freedom Network anti-marriage-rights talking point set six;

Faith and Freedom Network anti-marriage-rights talking point set seven.

( Articles, press releases, excerpts )

various and sundry

Lots going on; I'm engaged in some discussion with the graduate school, right on schedule; apparently, there were two hurdles to clear, the second one being the actual interviews, and I made it to the stack ranking (they don't call it that, but I get the impression that's what it was) for that round, meaning I actually got past the first round and was in the running for interviews. The person who has responded about my application says that the discussion included "a fair amount of squabbling," which I kind of like to hope means I had some supporters in the process. W00t! They're going to talk to me more on Monday.

Thursday's miles: 2.7
Miles out of Hobbiton: 708.1
Miles out of Rivendell: 248.3
Miles to Lothlórien: 218.1

On the way back from walking to the shops for some things I needed for tonight's dinner (bean sprouts and cilantro, mostly, but I grabbed a couple of other things while there), I was taking some flower pictures (coming soon!) and a neighbour whose garden I'd admired via glimpses around shrubbery stopped me and spazzkat and gave us a little impromptu tour of about half of the garden's main tier. He's been in the neighbourhood 45 years - I'm pretty sure he and his wife were the house's first owner. She's a working artist (still; he's retired) and designed the garden, he used to enter it in competitions and would do well. Personally, I think he could call Sunset tomorrow and it'd have a photospread inside in June - it's a great garden. He asked for some of my flower prints - I hope he has a computer, I'm not sure he realised I'm using Paul's digital camera.

Oh, what the hell. First flowerpic of the year, from January. Not an extraordinary shot, but this one shrub got fooled by Disingenuous January, so I took its picture before it got hammered by the return of cold.


January Flower Surprise!

Afterwards, I attacked a lot more horsetail with snips and eyedroppers, and also ripped out some dandelions. Stupid horsetail, I hate you so. Dandelions, I don't mind so much. Oh, and I put that door-prize annual flower we got at the neighbourhood annual potlock into the ground. I hope it likes where I put it, I wanted to be able to see it from one of the living room windows. I should take a picture of it, before I forget!


Two Metres Drain

A meme, from annathepiper: type in your birthday (minus the year) in the search bar at http://wikipedia.org/ andlist three interesting facts, two births, and one death that happened on that day.

Official birthdate:
three events:
1912 - The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England.
1925 - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York, New York by Charles Scribner's Sons.
1959 - Akihito, future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko (née Michiko Shoda), a commoner.

two births:
1870 (O.S.) - Vladimir Lenin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1924) roxx0r
1986 - Michael Thomas, American National Marbles Champion d00d

one death:
1945 - H.N. Werkman, Dutch artist and printer (executed) (b. 1882)

Most likely alternate date (yes, there is confusion):
three events:
1806 - Lewis and Clark return, after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
1846 - Discovery of Neptune by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle
1889 - The company Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards.

two births:
1880 - John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)
1970 - Ani DiFranco, American musician much cooler than me

one death:
79 - Pope Linus where is your security blanket now!?

oh dear

I may have just found an actual design use for drop caps.