With a social system gone awry and a religious vision to match, believers look outside themselves to find and judge sin. Out of control, they seek to control others and their bodies.

A very interesting article covering where things were, where they are and maybe how we got here from there. Worth the five minutes.

The Revealer: Feeding Desires, Judging Sin

2. The Enterprise-D went for $576,000, whereas the Enterprise-A, the last item sold, went for a bit less than half that.

Cap'n! The wallet canna take the strain!

Qapla'! Christie's Star Trek Auction: BLOG: SciAm Observations

But this battle is the most important issue that we face today, and what an honor it has been to serve in the United States Congress and carry the Marriage Amendment.

I don't like to crosspost from blogs much but...

Congresswoman Musgrave thinks banning gay marriage is the most important issue we face today?

Not the war in Iraq.
Not the "War on Terror."
Not the fact that madian income is down.
Not torture and war crimes against this country.
Not the problems on oil supply.
Not the threat of global warming and the possibility of most of Florida to turn into Venice.
Not New Orleans which over a year after Katrina is still a wasteland.
Not wiretaps.
Not W's use of the Constitution to wipe his backside.
Not the hole in the ground that still gapes in lower Manhatten.
Not poverty.
Not cancer.

The most important thing to Congresswoman Musgrave is making sure gay people can't get their partners on joint health insurance, or file a joint tax return? Lady, either get your priorities straight or go for a long drive in a short garage and stop stealing our oxygen.

Musgrave: Gay Marriage ‘Is The Most Important Issue That We Face Today’

Orlando has never been a strategic military target, and yet the folks there are furious. Yes, Orlando, home of the Magic Kingdom and mandated happiness. Who knows? Maybe living in Goofyville wears thin after 35 years.

And now as a counter point to the drunkest cities in the country, NONE of the top ten drunkest are in the top ten angriest! 6 of the drunkest are in the top 50 angry, but the top 5 drunks? Only Cleveland made the top 50.

I guess there really is such a thing as a "happy drunk."

How Angry Is Your City?

Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City"

Road trip!

Milwaukee Named America's 'Drunkest City' - AOL News

The father of a 17-year-old girl who was shot in the head while ghost hunting with friends said Friday that the group had been out for harmless fun.

Let's see, 40 year old guy, lives with his mother, holy crap! Check out that haircut!

A lot of GenX is a bit loopy, I mean hell, who isn't, but it's not kids who are a danger, there's no "youth gone wild!" It's the adults that are batshit crazy, and they're armed.

Teen Shot in Head at 'Haunted' House - AOL News

Nine black children attending schools in northwestern Louisiana's Red River Parish were directed last week to the back of a school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children, the mother of one of the children said.

"All nine children were assigned to two seats in the back of the bus and the older ones had to hold the smaller ones in their laps," Iva Richmond, mother of two of the children, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

No, never heard a no Rosa Parks. Nope.

Louisiana mom: School bus driver ordered blacks to back of bus

This is precisely what is happening in America today, as Bush and Cheney are being sucker punched by Osama bin Laden. Authoritarianism is everywhere in the federal government, not because Bush and Cheney do not realize what they are doing, but because they are authoritarians, and they are doing what authoritarians do. In the process they have weakened the fabric of democracy, discredited the American government as never before in the eyes of the world, caused people to wonder if terrorists have a legitimate complaint, and taken the United States far from the moral high ground in refusing to abide by basic international law.

This actually isn't the main thrust of Dean's book. It is more of a scholarly document dealing with authoritarianism in general, and then looking at it as a possible explanation for what has been happening in this country. The case is both convincing and damning. What is happening now is worse than Nixon at his absolute worst, and goes into not just what is happening, but what makes it possible and why there are parts of the public that agree with it.

If you have a brain capable of critical thinking, read this book. Buy it, go to the library and borrow it, find a friend who has a copy, steal it if you have to, but read it.

Amazon.com: Conservatives Without Conscience: Books: John Dean

Hardwick says she wants to wear the emblem to pay tribute to ancestors who fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. She said she has been forced to change clothes or turn her shirt inside-out, and has been suspended twice and threatened with being kicked off the track team.

And now for an opposing viewpoint... Would it be acceptable for a student to wear an SS pin with a Nazi armband? Schools all over have banned everything from Confederate flag wear to sports teams to gang colors to shorts, to you name it. Supression may not work, and in this case probably isn't the way to go.

If the school wanted to make their point properly, they would simply explain the reality of the Civil War, that the South rebelled for one reason and one reason only, to try to maintain and expand slavery. Let's see how far that one gets.

And now my "I forgot" update. This one is already dead in the water. This is a question already decided by the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines School District. Sorry Miss Hardwick, you're pretty much done.

S.C. Girl Protests Confederate Apparel Ban - Yahoo! News

"At the CDC, they're beside themselves," said Jonathan Zenilman, president of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association and conference organizer. "These people aren't scientists; they haven't written anything. The only reason they're here is because of political pressure from the administration."

Basically, the program doesn't do anything, but let's keep pushing it anyway because it's "on message."

Abstinence debate roils talk on STDs; PSU student eliminated from panel