]SPURGER, Texas -- Boys in the Spurger, Texas, school district
]won't be wearing dresses Wednesday and girls aren't going to be
]putting on men's suits.

]That after a parent complained about a dress-like-the-opposite-
]sex day -- an annual Homecoming week tradition.

]...The Liberty Legal Institute came to the aid of parent Delana
]Davies, who was concerned about officially sanctioned cross-
]dressing. Davies said having boys dress like girls is part of an
]effort to push a homosexual agenda in public schools.

When will this insanity end? *head explodes*

[ Leaving out the double standard for a minute, isn't it funny how fundies seem to believe that the main goal of gay people is to convert straights to their way of life. Like, the gay people I've known are constantly telling me how awesome gay sex is and how i really need to try it. Maybe it's all the evangelism that puts people in the thought mode that anyone with a strongly definitional lifestyle will naturally try to convince others of it. So silly.

I might add, that last sentence is so ironic, i thought for a second the whole thing must be a hoax... "camo day". Godforbid Joe should wear a skirt... much better to dress all our kids up like soldiers... I guess that shows our values. Anything fun is to be subjugated in favor of pressing the twin virtues of militarism and nationalism. Scary. -k]

Beware the homogenda!

] Judge Cassell said that sentencing Mr. Angelos to prison
] until he is 70 years old was "unjust, cruel and even
] irrational," but that the law that forced him to do so
] had not proved to be unconstitutional and thus had to
] stand. The sentence was all the more ironic, he said,
] because only two hours earlier he had been legally able
] to impose a sentence of 22 years on a man convicted of
] aggravated second-degree murder for beating an elderly
] woman to death with a log. That crime, he argued, was far
] more serious.

[ Hear hear. Mandatory minimums are completely atrocious. -k]

Judge Questions Long Sentence in Drug Case

] House Republicans proposed changing their rules last
] night to allow members indicted by state grand juries to
] remain in a leadership post, a move that would benefit
] Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged
] by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his
] political associates, according to GOP leaders.
]
]
] The proposed rule change, which several leaders predicted
] would win approval at a closed meeting today, comes as
] House Republicans return to Washington feeling indebted
] to DeLay for the slightly enhanced majority they won in
] this month's elections. DeLay led an aggressive
] redistricting effort in Texas last year that resulted in
] five Democratic House members retiring or losing
] reelection. It also triggered a grand jury inquiry into
] fundraising efforts related to the state legislature's
] redistricting actions.

GOP Pushes Rule Change to Protect DeLay's Post (washingtonpost.com)

[ Looks very cool... don't know how i missed it... i was positive i'd seen everything on the internet by now... i'd like to fit this into my entertainment budget, but we'll see. -k]

What would you give? [ Broken Saints ]

] The heart of the matter is rather simple: does the FCC
] have the legal status necessary to regulate digital TV or
] not? Susan Crawford has been following this, and posted
] the brief (PDF) that was filed by the FCC in response to
] this question, along with her thoughts on the
] implications of the FCC's increased bravado:
]
] The FCC's brief, filed in response to PK's challenge
] to FCC's jurisdiction in the flag matter, is
] breathtaking. FCC's position is that its Act gives it
] regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities,
] and apparatus "associated with the overall circuit of
] messages sent and received" via all interstate radio and
] wire communication. That's quite a claim.

[ Something to keep your eyes on, kittens... Despite the fact that republicans are supposed to be for limited government and more free markets, the FCC's scope of powers has been nothing but increased in the past four years. Expect them to attempt more of the same. -k]

FCC clarifies that they do, in fact, control everything

] Three years after he was honorably discharged from the
] Army, Frederick Pistorius was surprised to learn he was a
] deserter.
]
]
] But there it was, on his doorstep: a letter from Barry W.
] Kimmons, Deputy Chief, Deserter Information Point
] Extension Office of the Army Reserve Personnel Command.
]
]
] "On 12 July 2004 you were involuntarily mobilized to
] active duty in the United States Army," the letter says.
] "To date you have not reported to your mobilization
] station as required by your orders." Possibly Pistorius
] had not responded for two reasons. The Pistorius family
] had moved from the address in Sharon, Pa., to which the
] Army had sent its first letter. More saliently, having
] served honorably in not one but two branches of the U.S.
] military, with no additional obligation showing on his
] discharge papers, Pistorius would have had no reason to
] think he was subject to anything but his civilian job at
] a local steel plant.

[ Not a particularly encouraging story... -k]

The Army's long arm

] The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter
] Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have
] been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking
] damaging information to the media about the conduct of
] the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according
] to knowledgeable sources.
]
]
] "The agency is being purged on instructions from the
] White House," said a former senior CIA official who
] maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White
] House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of
] those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is
] looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and
] people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

[ Lets call this article an alert... something to keep an eye on. I'm not at all convinced there's cridibility here, but any accusation of this type is worth keeping an eye on. -k]

CIA plans to purge its agency

] Rapper O.D.B., known as much for his run-ins with the law
] as for his colorful lyrics, collapsed and died inside his
] studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 36.

[ R.I.P. Big Baby Jesus. -k]

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Ol' Dirty Bastard Dies at Age 36

] The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory
] Committee makes crucial decisions
]
] on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of
] obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including
] hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for
] infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical
] procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination.
]
]
] Dr. Hager is the author of %u201CAs Jesus Cared for
] Women: Restoring Women Then and Now.%u201D The book
] blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with
] case studies from Hager%u2019s practice. His views of
] reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream
] for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing
] OB/GYN who describes himself as %u201Cpro-life%u201D and
] refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.

[ This is not the new news it appears to be, but that doesn't change the fact that the guy in charge of this comittee is a doctor who believes contraception is abortion and the Bible is a cure for PMS. Ugh. -k]

Andrew Torrez � Faith-Based Gynecology???

] I've always been a rather staunch small-'c' conservative
] when it comes to the federal constitution. The fact that
] we now have a 27th amendment covering the weighty and
] statecraft-worthy issue of how congress can raise its
] salary strikes me as close to a secular sacrilege. But
] I'm starting to warm to the idea of abolishing the
] electoral college.

[ Marshall tosses around some thoughts on the matter and reiterates that he's in a thinking out loud mode, looking more to start a discussion than to advocate a major position. I offer the article up to this community with the same desire, as it's an issue i've put some thought into as well.

I tend to think, simply, that the EC is antiquated and no longer necessary. I understand the concerns about small states, and I'm not sure I agree with JMM that the current solidly partisan nature of these places is a reason to minimize the issue. They could become competitive someday, after all. I do agree that their disproportionate representation in congress alleviates some of my concern.

Primarily though, I'm against anything which systematically discourages voting. A lot of people would say that's absurd and people who care should vote regardless of how solidly their state is colored, and I certainly agree in principle. But I can't help thinking that there are millions of people in the country who just don't consider their vote to be relevant. I have no data to suggest that a purely popular vote (or any other system, like condorcet or instant runoff) would benefit one party or the other, so I don't consider it a partisan issue. It's an issue of enfranchisement, and making people feel that their voice can and will be heard. Trust in the physical security of our elections is a big part of that too, from paper trails to code audits, but the simple fact of increasing the individual relevance of a vote seems like a huge positive step to me. -k]

Talking Points Memo: Electoral College