BAC Home Again in Indiana

To my 12 loyal "Yikesters!" Yes, I'm up from 6 loyal readers to 12 ... If any of you live in or around Indianapolis, and don't already have plans for Monday evening, think about stopping by the Nora Public Library. Yeah, for a good time come on out to ... the library! I'll be there at 7:00 pm, for a meeting of the Indiana Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Come by and say hello. Stay awhile, and meet others who care about keeping church and state separate.

The meeting again is Monday, December 3, at 7:00 pm, at the Nora Public Library, 8625 N. Guilford Avenue, on the north side of Indianapolis. I hope to see you there!

Difficult day ends well

Clinton: 'Relieved' no one got hurt
Thank goodness the authorities in New Hampshire didn't panic, and were able to bring this tense situation to a safe conclusion. Imagine how this might have played out under Rudy's administration, had this taken place in NYC during the Giuliani years. Yikes! Remember Amidou Diallo, the unfortunate young man shot more than 40 times while reaching for his wallet to provide identification?

A tense standoff at a presidential campaign office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Rochester, N.H., ended shortly after 6 p.m. this evening when a man later identified as Leeland Eisenberg was taken into police custody after holding at least four people hostage. There were no apparent injuries.

Mr. Eisenberg was described by friends and relatives as despondent, with his wife recently asking for a divorce. One person said he had been drinking for 72 hours before he entered the campaign office. Mr. Eisenberg also called CNN to rant about the state of the nation’s mental health system, the network reported.

Once the situation was resolved, Mrs. Clinton said, “I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well.”

Mrs. Clinton praised the “courage” of both the hostages and their families, who she said she spoke to throughout the day and then left to fly to New Hampshire to join them. [...]

When the ordeal ended, Mrs. Clinton would not go into the details of what had happened, saying that was for the police. But her relief was evident.

“This has been a very hard day for all of us in our campaign,” she said. “I want to thank them for their extraordinary courage and coolness under some very difficult pressures and dangerous situations.”

Friday morning music

h/t to Boxer Rebellion

Blogger Roundup

Whooo hooo ... friends came into town and we had a wonderful dinner so I am just now getting around to my blog reading, and the posts are excellent! Here are a few you won't want to miss!


from Mock, Paper, Scissors

…And on the 8th day, God made Texas.

They say only the good die young.


from Crooks and Liars

Questioning “Intelligent Design” in Texas? You’re Fired.


from I Was Just Wondering

Channeling Tengrain


from The Carpetbagger Report

Gay veteran puts Republicans on the spot — gets booed

Giuliani’s national-security halo takes another serious hit


from Tennessee Guerilla Women

Rightwing Rage: Hillary Plants Gay 'Operative' In GOP Debate! Hillary Wins!

In 2004, 20 Million Unmarried Women Did Not Vote

Texas Education Agency director of science fired for promoting science

Geezz ... file this under things that make me crazy! Phil at Bad Astronomy writes:

What the heck is wrong with Texas?

First, they get a creationist governor. Then their creationist governor appoints a creationist to head the State Board of Education.

And now, when Chris Comer, the Texas Education Agency’s director of science curriculum, sends out an email announcing a talk by anti_creationism advocate Barbara Forrest, the TEA forces her to resign.

Why? Hold on to your seats here, folks, because you won’t believe this:

[Texas Education] Agency officials cited the e-mail in a memo recommending her termination. They said forwarding the e-mail not only violated a directive for her not to communicate in writing or otherwise with anyone outside the agency regarding an upcoming science curriculum review, “it directly conflicts with her responsibilities as the Director of Science.”

The memo adds, “Ms. Comer’s e-mail implies endorsement of the speaker and implies that TEA endorses the speaker’s position on a subject on which the agency must remain neutral.”

That’s right, the Texas Education Agency must remain neutral when it comes to science versus antiscience!

Clearly these folks haven't read the First Amendment. You know, the one that guarantees separation of church and state!

As noted anti-creationist Genie Scott commented in the article,

“This just underscores the politicization of science education in Texas,” Scott said. “In most states, the department of education takes a leadership role in fostering sound science education. Apparently TEA employees are supposed to be kept in the closet and only let out to do the bidding of the board.”

As you might expect, PZ has some things to say about this as well. So does Josh. In fact, expect to see this news hitting the science blogosphere like a bomb.

The fight against antiscience, the fight against theocracy, the fight against nonsense will never stop, because their minions are always lurking somewhere. Keep fighting, people. We must never tire.

Phil is absolutely right -- we can never let our guard down, not even for a second.

I've looked at clouds that way...

Note: I've been working on this post for a while, or at least working on acquiring the images for the post. The text--it'll be grasshopper product, produced on the fly; the pics are pure ant product. (In case you don't read Julie Zickefoose's blog, check out this beautiful entry, which ends with her classifying bloggers as grasshoppers and ants. I'm always a grasshopper, just writing on the fly.)

I love clouds and have names for the different kinds of clouds I see but not like "cumulus" or whatever. I have my own little cloud names, coined over a lifetime of watching the sky. Here are a few of the clouds I've seen lately that exemplify the clouds in my lexicon.

1. First up is the "Ferris Bueller" cloud--those tiny puffs that insist on making themselves seen in an otherwise cloudless and spectacularly blue sky:

I call them Ferris Bueller clouds because of that part of FB's Day Off in which he says he couldn't possibly go to school on a day like today, and then they cut to several quick shots of tiny little clouds like these, as though they made the weather too severe to go to school.

2. Next up is the general post-storm cloud cover, featuring little splotches of blue:

I've always thought that it's almost cruel the way the sky always seems to clear up and turn beautiful right after a really fierce storm. This was especially true in Texas when, after a tornado would rip through, the sun would come out as if to spotlight the devastation. Has anyone else ever noticed this? The above picture wasn't taken after quite so fierce a storm--just the steady cold rain and windy storms that gripped Cape May for the first day and a half of this autumn's Migration Weekend. I was standing outside the convention center on Saturday, just as the skies were finally clearing and the Flock--Susan Gets Native, Laura H in NJ, Susan at Lake Life, and I--were about to go walk on the beach for the first time.

3. Next up is the kind of cloud that produces sunbeams:

This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea. When I was a kid, my little sister Mary and I would look for these clouds and the sunbeams, especially near evening; we would say that the sunbeams were God's robe coming down as he stood on the earth.

4. These are wispy, melting butter clouds:

This type looks the way butter does when you melt it, with the oils and stuff separating out. It's one of my favorite cloud types. I like the different textures and the way the winds slice the clouds into different bits at different altitudes.

5. The sunlight-diffusing morning clouds are another favorite of mine:

I like the pinks and oranges produced by these clouds and their effects on the morning sun, almost Monet-like in its translucence.

6. This is an example of a rather thin cotton-batting sky:

I have a slightly better though smaller example of a more dense cotton-batting sky here:
I remark on the "cotton-batting sky" more than any other kind of cloud cover, because it's my favorite. You'll see it before it rains or snows, when the cloud cover looks like cotton batting stretched out across the sky like a blanket, with thinner and thicker parts, but shielding out the blue behind it (except in the case of the thin batting in the first example). I wish I had a better photo, but lately every time I've seen it, I haven't had the camera.

7. I love clouds at sunset, especially the clouds high enough to look over the edge of the world:

See how there's dark gray evening clouds, shaded from the sunlight by the edge of the earth's disk, and then there are the higher clouds that are lit by the setting sun's last rays? I love these. It would be like getting an extra peek at the sunset, being up that high.

Here's another example, which also includes some really beautiful evening gray clouds, another favorite:


Clouds in the evening and at night, dimly lit by setting sun or moonlight, are beautiful to me.

8. Finally, there's the wispy clouds, smaller bits of what are usually called mare's tails:
These aren't the whole tails, mind you--just little splashes of tails.

I'll leave you with a photo of evening gray clouds I took on my way to calculus class one night. It was bitterly cold, and the moon was hanging in the sky, following the sun:

Muslim Girl Scouts Rock

Imagine being a 12 year old girl on a city bus and have people glaring at you simply because of the way you dress. Now, imagine turning all that around by simply wearing a Girl Scout sash. It's actually a sad commentary on how we treat people in this country.

The New York Times reports:

Sometimes when Asma Haidara, a 12-year-old Somali immigrant, wants to shop at Target or ride the Minneapolis light-rail system, she puts her Girl Scout sash over her everyday clothes, which usually include a long skirt worn over pants as well as a swirling head scarf.

She has discovered that the trademark green sash — with its American flag, troop number (3009) and colorful merit badges — reduces the number of glowering looks she draws from people otherwise bothered by her traditional Muslim dress.

“When you say you are a girl scout, they say, ‘Oh, my daughter is a girl scout, too,’ and then they don’t think of you as a person from another planet,” said Asma, a slight, serious girl with a bright smile. “They are more comfortable about sitting next to me on the train.” [...]

By teaching girls to roast hot dogs or fix a flat bicycle tire, Farheen Hakeem, one troop leader here, strives to help them escape the perception of many non-Muslims that they are different.

Scouting is a way of celebrating being American without being any less Muslim, Ms. Hakeem said.

Little girls and boys shouldn't have to wear scout sash's and badges to keep from being harassed. Most of the children are American citizens, or on their way to becoming citizens. And our First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state allows everyone to decide whether or not to follow a particular faith tradition -- or none at all.

Are we ever going to be a nation that stops living in fear of difference and actually embraces it?

“It is kind of cool to say that you are a girl scout,” Asma said. “It is good to have something to associate yourself with other Americans. I don’t want people to think that I am a hermit, that I live in a cave, isolated and afraid of change. I like to be part of society. I like being able to say that I am a girl scout just like any other normal girl.”

Under the current climate I'm sure that is too much to ask. In the meantime, hats off to these young girls. Now, would someone please pass me a hot dog and some s’mores?

Winter blahs

Winter's not even officially started yet, and already I have the winter blahs. I find it difficult to post anything, difficult to go birding, difficult to do much more than sit on the couch and read Harry Potter books over and over, wishing I had a cool wand and could do magic.

Oh dear, I think I might have revealed a little more about the real me than I should've. . . .

At any rate, please excuse my sporadic posting.

I will say that I saw a great horned owl this morning on the way to work; I only wish we hadn't been running late (as usual), or I would've stopped and tried to get a picture. That's only the second time I've seen a GHOW that wasn't chasing me.

I went birding this past weekend with Roana and Nan from the State College Birding Club, and The Kid even came along. Em's developing an interest in birding, FINALLY! She always seemed a little resistant to get into birds when I would try to take her with me places, but she apparently saw a bald eagle flying near her dad's not too long ago, and it seems to have been her spark bird. I'm so excited that she's interested--I'll have a family birding buddy! We had a good time but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I'm hoping for horned larks, snow buntings, and maybe Lapland longspurs sometime during the winter, when they are supposed to feed in newly-manured fields. Maybe we'll get a good snow soon and I'll spot some. All three would be lifers.

Speaking of which, I just checked my list and I'm up (drumroll please) 163 species! The Cape May trip really boosted my total. I wonder how long it'll take to break 200--probably a while, as I'm not really a chaser. With the surprising number of irruptive species being seen in my area this fall, though, I'm hoping to add at least a few more soon.

So--a rather lackluster post, but hey--it's a lackluster day.

Obama's Big Oops ...

Barack Obama, appearing on Nightline last night, said the following:

"But they also, surprisingly enough, even in rural Iowa, recognize the opportunity to send a signal to the world that, you know, we are not as ingrown, as parochial as you may perceive. ... .." - Barack Obama

Is "ingrown" code for "inbred"? Is this what Obama thinks of rural Americans? His campaign was quick to ask for an expanded transcript to be released, and here is what's posted by Taylor Marsh:

UPDATE II: For those of you not visiting the comments, I’m offering a fuller section, though I don’t think the context and reference helps at all. "Even in rural Iowa" speaks for itself, regardless of the words around it. It also doesn’t remove the reality of what would have happened had Clinton said something like this. Look what Matthews and others are making of Clinton’s CBS interview with Katie Couric. She doesn’t think about losing, so she’s automatically saying she’s inevitable? However, Obama’s campaign asked me to put it in an update on the post itself, which I’m happy to do. In the end, no matter what I say you’ll decide, which is how it should be.

MORAN: Do you think Americans are challenged by voting potentially for a presidential candidate who didn’t have an American boyhood?

OBAMA: Oh, well, I think that it is both a challenge and an opportunity. I think there’s no doubt that the fact that my name is Barack Obama and that my father was from Kenya and that I grew up in Hawaii that there’s that whole exotic aspect to me that people, I think, have to get past. But they also, surprisingly enough, even in rural Iowa, recognize the opportunity to send a signal to the world that, you know, we are not as ingrown, as parochial as you may perceive or as the Bush administration seems to have communicated, that we are, in fact, embracing the world, we are listening, we are concerned, we want to be engaged.

We want to be safe. We want to be treated fairly. We want to make sure that, whether it’s on trade relations or dealing with terrorism, that our national interests are dealt with. But we also recognize that we’re part of the world community. And I think it was interesting, just here in Dunlap, you notice that some of the biggest applause was when I talked about wanting America to be respected again in the world. People understand this in a very significant way.

UPDATE: He’s on a roll. This out of New Hampshire, via email, where Mr. Obama was talking foreign policy today:

"One of the great pleasures of running for president is to go to some tiny town in Iowa and you’ve got some guy in overalls and a seahat to say what do you think about the situation in Burma, and you’re thinking that he’s going to ask you about corn, and he asks you about Burma." - Barack Obama

What color is your brain?

Your Brain is Green

Of all the brain types, yours has the most balance. You are able to see all sides to most problems and are a good problem solver. Small children and puppies love you. You need time to work out your thoughts, but you don't get stuck in bad thinking patterns. Which would make you an asset to the current administration if it only had a brain. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the future, philosophy, and relationships (both personal and intellectual ... but mostly personal). You can never find matching socks, but your dogs love you anyway. You are destine to win a Nobel prize.

What Color Is Your Brain?

h/t to Dr. Zaius

Stem-cell Breakthrough

With the latest breakthrough in stem-cell research the question now is: "How will Dubya try an' f*#% this up?"

Remember, his first ever presidential veto was of legislation expanding stem cell research. With the 'morality' question out of play, will stem cell research move forward (with government funding) -- or will the president try and come up with a new excuse if legislation expanding stem-cell research comes up again?

The New York Times reports:

If stem cell researchers were oil prospectors, it could be said that they struck a gusher last week. But to realize the potential boundless riches they now must figure out how to build refineries, pipelines and gas stations.

Biologists were electrified on Tuesday, when scientists in Japan and Wisconsin reported that they could turn human skin cells into cells that behave like embryonic stem cells, able to grow indefinitely and to potentially turn into any type of tissue in the body.

The discovery, if it holds up, would decisively solve the raw material problem. It should provide an unlimited supply of stem cells without the ethically controversial embryo destruction and the restrictions on federal financing that have impeded work on human embryonic cells.

But scientists still face the challenge of taking that abundant raw material and turning it into useful medical treatments, like replacement tissue for damaged hearts and brains. And that challenge will be roughly as daunting for the new cells as it has been for the embryonic stem cells.

The possibilities are endless ... as long as we can keep the president out of the picture.

Another one bites the dust ...

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert officially resigned today. I wonder if he and Lott discussed their plans before deciding today would be the day!

Hastert had announced earlier that he did not intend to seek another term, and told colleagues days ago that he was planning on leaving the House.

There is certainly lots of speculation surrounding Lott's quick announcement. You can read more about it here and here.

Hastert would like you to believe his decision is based on what is best for the voters in his district. If you believe that ... .

The bottom line for me is that Hastert is a Republican, and I don't trust anything they say. As I mentioned in my previous post about Lott, I wonder what's up!

Busy day trying to save the world ...

But a few things did catch my eye that I wanted to comment on. First, another Republican bites the dust. Sen. Trent Lott announced today that he is leaving the Senate at either the end of December, or in January. That's right, BEFORE his term ends.

Wonder what THAT is all about? Is something big about to break and he wants to avoid the fall out? Or is he simply trying to cash in on his last chance to earn the big bucks before the White House changes hands? This could be fun to watch!

And just when Trent thought he was going to be the top story of the day, Dick knocks him off the top page with an irregular heartbeat. Who knew Cheney had a heart? That Dick will do anything for attention!

And speaking of being a Dick ... Wasn't it fun that the Prez had to be nice to Al Gore today!

Talk about an inconvenient truth. Al Gore finally won his place in the Oval Office on Monday -- right next to George W. Bush. Forever linked by the closest and craziest presidential race in history, the two men were reunited by, of all things, White House tradition.

Gore was among the 2007 Nobel Prize winners who were invited in for a photo and some chatter with the president; Gore got the recognition for his work on global warming.

Oh, man I would have liked to be a fly on the wall when Duyba realized he would be hosting Gore! And for winning the Nobel Prize for global warming! Yikes!

The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out.

"Familiar faces," the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing.

Which, as coincidence would have it, has also been his contribution as president.

Laid-back LOLcat Monday

Who can resist the LOLcat?

Sunday Protest

My evening blog surfing revealed that while I may be a little late to the game, there is still time to take part in a Sunday evening impromptu blowswarm for peace! I must confess, however, that I'm stealing the music video posted by Tengrain. I'm doing it for a couple of reasons. It's easier to copy and past the code than to search YouTube for a unique video, and two, it's a lesbian band. Also, h/t to DCup for starting the ball rolling! And, if Technorati is working (one never knows) this could be her 100th link! Whoooo hooooo!

Sunday Funnies

Party ... anybody wanna party

Pharyngula writes: Use this as an excuse to party

Today is the 148th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Enjoy those Thanksgiving leftovers!

Bush friends dropping like flies

When you see a headline that says "Bush friends dropping like flies ..." the next logical question is "when will he?"

The latest pol to take a plunge is Australia's prime minister, John Howard. Howard suffered a major defeat on Saturday, losing his reelection bid to Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd.

Howard's defeat, after 11 years in power, follows that of José María Aznar of Spain, and political setbacks that lead to Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair's resignation. And what to all these former-leaders have in common? They were staunch allies of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The world "gets it." Even the electorate in this country gets it, sending Republicans packing in the last election. So when is the United States Congress going to "get it" and start formal impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney and then President Bush.

The citizen of this country deserve to see these two war-profiteers forced out of office in disgrace.

Why do you think campaigning began last summer for the 2008 presidential election? Because the American public can't wait for this administration's term to end.

Congress will be back in session soon. Email your Representative to tell them you are thankful to live in a democracy that includes an impeachment process to protect its citizens against fascist leaders -- and urge them to use it!

Congress Screws Poor Women and Students

Is anyone in Washington, DC paying attention?

College women and poor women are now at risk for unplanned pregnancy because of a screw-up in Congress. A new change in federal law means poor women and students are now paying sharply higher prices for prescription contraceptives.

The New York Times reports:

The increases have meant that some students using popular birth control pills and other products are paying three and four times as much as they did several months ago. The higher prices have also affected about 400 community health centers nationwide used by poor women.

The change is due to a provision in a federal law that ended a practice by which drug manufacturers provided prescription contraception to the health centers at deeply discounted rates. The centers then passed along the savings to students and others.

Some Democratic lawmakers in Washington are pressing for new legislation by year’s end that would reverse the provision, which they say was inadvertently included in a law intended to reduce Medicaid abuse. In the meantime, health care and reproductive rights advocates are warning that some young women are no longer receiving the contraception they did in the past.

Some college clinics have reported sudden drops in the numbers of contraceptives sold; students have reported switching to less expensive contraceptives or considering alternatives like the so-called morning-after pill; and some clinics, including one at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me., have stopped stocking some prescription contraceptives, saying they are too expensive.

“The potential is that women will stop taking it, and whether or not you can pay for it, that doesn’t mean that you’ll stop having sex,” said Katie Ryan, a senior at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, who said that the monthly cost of her Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, a popular birth control pill, recently jumped to nearly $50 from $12.

I just watched SiCKO yesterday, and reading this today is making me SiCKO again!

Abstinence only advocates love the change, but keep in mind this crowd thinks their parents rode to school on dinosaures!

Contact your members of Congress and urge them to fix this. And while you have them on the phone, if it's a Democrat you are speaking with tell them to get a spine!

Representative Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York who introduced a bill on the matter, said the change would require no taxpayers’ money to subsidize contraception. [NOTE: emphasis mine] The drug manufacturers would pay for any discounts, but would not be required to pay larger Medicaid rebates because of those discounts.

“We’re not promoting promiscuity, but we’re also cognizant that people live,” said Mr. Crowley, who is among the lawmakers who say the change that took discounts away from university clinics was inadvertent. “We’re talking about adults, responsible adults who want to do the responsible thing.”

God forbid taxpayers should help students and poor women prevent unplanned, unwanted, pregnancy.

Another Evangelical Resigns

Remember the good old days when an Evangelical leader's claim to fame was that "God would call him home unless his followers sent money?"

In 1987, television preacher Oral Roberts made a dramatic appeal. If his supporters did not send donations totaling $8 million dollars within three months, he warned that God would "call me home." There were those who complained that Roberts was extorting his viewers and using the Deity as an accomplice, but there was no doubting his charisma — or his results. Roberts received over $9 million, and God did not call him home.

It seems that Oral's son Richard Roberts, who took over the reigns of Oral Roberts University when his father retired, has given a whole new meaning to 'coming home.'

On Wednesday, the head regent at Oral Roberts University announced that the school is an astonishing $52.5 million in debt. This news arrived just three weeks after the revelation of a wrongful termination suit filed against the school by three former professors who claim that they were fired after providing the school's Board of Regents with a report detailing moral and ethical lapses by Oral's son Richard, who had inherited the school's presidency from his father, and Richard's wife Lindsay. Among the allegations: the Roberts had remodeled their home eleven times in 14 years with university money; they bankrolled one of their daughters' $29,411 trip to the Bahamas with school funds; and Lindsay Roberts had spent the night in an O.R.U. guest-house with an underage male nine times.

Which was maybe a contributing factor for why Mrs. Robinson Roberts is alleged to have gone on a $39,000 shopping spree at one store. Victoria's Secrets maybe???

Richard Roberts went on Larry King Live in October claiming the charges amounted to "intimidation, blackmail and extortion." On Friday Roberts said in a statement:

“I love O.R.U. with all my heart. I love the students, faculty, staff and administration, and I want to see God’s best for all of them.”

What's not to love? ha

Roberts also said: "The devil is not going to steal O.R.U."

No, Richard, you've taken care of that! Or did he?

Time magazine reports:

The whole affair is a sad denouement for one of the pioneers of televangelism, a man who, in the early 1980s, seemed poised to pull the then-declasse Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions, which emphasize gifts of the Holy Spirit such as healing and speaking in tongues, into the mainstream. Says Randall Balmer, chair of the religion department at Barnard College, who has written about Roberts, "I feel badly for him. This must be a blow."

What happened? J. Lee Grady, the editor of the magazine Charisma, wrote recently, "I don't know about you, but I'm having flashbacks of 1987," the year that the sexploits of Jimmy Swaggart and financial hijinks of Jim Bakker gave televangelism its reputation for sleaze. But while the allegations in the suit certainly meet Swaggart-quality standards of salaciousness, the causes of the university's fall may owe more to mismanagement than greed or negligence, suggests John Schmalzbauer, an expert in Christian higher education at Missouri State University. Unless some party siphoned off "massive multimillion-dollar diversion of funds over 25 years," he says, "I think the causes must be deeper and more structural."

And they no doubt are, but in the mean time what the public sees is another fallen Evangelical.

Cell Phones and National Security

If you were hoping to get that new iPhone this holiday season, you might want to think again. Actually, you might want to ask for an extension cord for your land-based phone instead.

The WaPo reports:

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.

In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied.

The issue is taking on greater relevance as wireless carriers are racing to offer sleek services that allow cellphone users to know with the touch of a button where their friends or families are. The companies are hoping to recoup investments they have made to meet a federal mandate to provide enhanced 911 (E911) location tracking. Sprint Nextel, for instance, boasts that its "loopt" service even sends an alert when a friend is near, "putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town." [...]

"Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket," said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air."

So if you want your family, or Big Brother, knowing your every move -- go ahead and ask for that phone! Why let a thing like warrantless tracking, probable cause, or the Fourth Amendment ruin your holidays!

"Permitting surreptitious conversion of a cellphone into a tracking device without probable cause raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns especially when the phone is in a house or other place where privacy is reasonably expected," said Judge Stephen William Smith of the Southern District of Texas, whose 2005 opinion on the matter was among the first published.

But judges in a majority of districts have ruled otherwise on this issue, Boyd said. Shortly after Smith issued his decision, a magistrate judge in the same district approved a federal request for cell-tower data without requiring probable cause. And in December 2005, Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York, approving a request for cell-site data, wrote that because the government did not install the "tracking device" and the user chose to carry the phone and permit transmission of its information to a carrier, no warrant was needed.

These judges are issuing orders based on the lower standard, requiring a showing of "specific and articulable facts" showing reasonable grounds to believe the data will be "relevant and material" to a criminal investigation. [...]

The trend's secrecy is troubling, privacy advocates said. No government body tracks the number of cellphone location orders sought or obtained. Congressional oversight in this area is lacking, they said. And precise location data will be easier to get if the Federal Communication Commission adopts a Justice Department proposal to make the most detailed GPS data available automatically.

For further evidence of what I think about all the, please watch the JFK video below. Listen, and weep!

JFK Remembered

Kennedy's message, delivered more than 40 years ago, is vitally important today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ken Baker's Legacy Lives On

Kathy, from Birmingham Blues, recently lost her brother Ken. She posted a loving tribute to him here, and she also provides insight into why opposing marriage for same sex couples is fundamentally wrong. With her permission I am posting her remarks below. It's important to tell our stories, so that others might understand there are real consequences to the hateful rhetoric put forth by religious right conservatives.

________________________________________

EQUALITY BEGINS AT HOME

We’ve had a hell of a week around here. I wish I had the words to describe it; perhaps that would exorcise some of the pain. My brother’s memorial service was beautiful, a reflection of his life and work. The church was full to overflowing with family, friends, and colleagues who came to remember his dedication, his courage, his humor. His pastor, a wonderful, gifted woman who was a close friend, shared the pulpit with others who were touched by his kindness and his commitment to equality for all people. We buried his ashes in the memorial garden that he designed and helped to build.

Ken founded an organization called Equality Begins at Home, which was merged with another LGBT rights group in 2002 to form Equality Alabama. This week brought home to me the importance of that name. Equality does indeed begin at home, and when inequality persists, it is our family and friends who suffer. Everywhere Tony turned during this ordeal, he had to wait for our approval of his decisions. Thank God I could get to the hospital quickly; I had to sign the form that gave permission to release Ken’s body. When we changed our minds about which funeral home to use, I had to get on the phone and say yes before the hospital could make the change. When we made arrangements for Ken’s cremation, my mother had to sign the consent form, even though Tony was “allowed” to sign the contract for payment. Although he consulted us at every turn and knew that we would approve his decisions, he wasn’t permitted to perform the duties of a spouse — the spouse that he was and is in every sense other than legal. He, being the wonderful person that he has always been, never complained, but I found it painfully offensive and intrusive. (I do need to point out that all of the people we dealt with were sympathetic and understanding, particularly at the funeral home, but their hands were tied by legal requirements.)

Those of us who’ve read up on the subject of marriage equality have likely run across the oft-quoted statistic that marriage brings with it over 1,000 legal rights that are not granted to couples like Ken and Tony. That’s a good fact to remember, but dry numbers can’t begin to portray the reality of the experience. Yes, I know couples can take some steps to protect their interests in case of, oh, say, a medical emergency, but who exactly is going to be digging through the file cabinet looking for paperwork when the paramedics are trying to get the patient to the hospital? And it’s likely, although I can’t say so with complete certainty, that my mother or I could have walked in and taken over as “real” next of kin even if Tony had had papers in hand. We do, after all, live in Alabama.

So. If you were sitting on the fence about marriage equality — maybe you’re straight and don’t see why it’s so important, maybe you’re young and can’t foresee a sudden death or catastrophic illness, maybe you assume everything can be handled with (expensive, time-consuming, and subject to legal challenge) paperwork — it’s time to climb down on the side of justice and compassion. Speak up. Tell your friends, your co-workers, your family members. Talk to your elected representatives. Join Equality Alabama and other organizations that work for equality and justice, and donate what you can to support their work. There is strength in numbers, and even small contributions add up quickly.

Ken left us a legacy and a challenge. Equality begins at home. My home — and yours. Let’s make it a reality sooner rather than later.

****

Note: If you make a donation to Equality Alabama and designate it in memory of Ken Baker (you can do that on the online form), your gift will be used to maintain the newly-renamed Ken Baker Equality Alabama Justice Center in Montgomery. Read more about it here.

Funny book meme, interesting results

I heard about this meme from Patrick at The Hawk Owl's Nest, where you go to Amazon's Advanced Book Search, type your name under Title, and pick the most interesting result.

I did it two ways. First, I typed in both my first and last name (I don't have a middle name). I got three hits:

Okay--what in the world is up with that first one? Ooh, I see--it's an Oprah Book Club selection--it all makes sense now. See, not a lot of people know this, but Oprah pretty much bases her whole club selections thing around MY taste in books. No, really! Okay--get this: back in the late 1980s, I did my master's thesis on mother characters in Toni Morrison's novels; Oprah starts up her book/reading club and picks Beloved as the first club selection. See? What did I tell you?

Now, I realize that she hasn't picked any forensic science books yet; I mean, I don't see her having the Oprah-lovers of America read Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI, but you know--she focuses on fiction. Still -- I read Love in the Time of Cholera when it first came out; that's on her list. I majored in English and read all of Faulkner's novels (on a bet); she puts Light in August, As I Lay Dying, and The Sound and the Fury on her list. I'm a woman, and I have a heart; she puts Maya Angelou's The Heart of a Woman on her list. Do I need to go on? Puh-lease. It's so obvious.

But I digress.... Okay, the second one is YOU Staying Young. Uh... yeah.

And finally, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. (Is this Jerry's wife?) Well, I might be delicious, but I'm sure everyone knows it, so there's not so much "deceptively" going on.

After these weird results, I only typed in my first name, and this time I got a ton of books by some cookbook writer named Delia Smith. Believe me, when you have a first name that you have to spell for everyone, it's easier when your last name is something like "Smith." Anyway, she's written a million cookbooks and holiday books and stuff--she must be the Martha Stewart of the Delia world. Here's the best one:

You go, girl.

Happy Turkey Day!

Just think: for some people, a wild turkey would be a lifer.

Here's an interesting story to ponder while you stuff yourself tomorrow. Enjoy the holiday!

I'm thankful to have bloggy pals like you with whom I can share my little birdy adventures. Thanks for two years of fun!

Carnival of The Liberals #52

** The End **

But wait, you say ... I haven't seen a single Carnival of The Liberals post! How can it be "the end?" Never fear, Carnival of The Liberals #52 is here! I have the distinct pleasure of hosting The Last Temptation Edition of CotL for year 2, here at Yikes!

I also have the pleasure of sharing with you that 2007 is the 60th Anniversary of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In honor of AU's anniversary, the theme for this carnival is church-state separation -- and guess what? Nearly half of you sent in posts on the topic! The rest of you are part of what I lovingly refer to as the 'like herding cats' Liberal movement -- who will be heard, but not herd!

There is a special twist to this CotL. AU recently hosted a blogger meet up in DC, and a few of those in attendance (or there in spirit) were invited to submit a post. So this CotL's features 15 posts, instead of the usual 10. It's with great honor and pleasure that I share with you the entries selected for this edition.

NOTE: If you submitted an entry, but don't see it listed here, keep in mind that I haven't had much sleep over the past two weeks ... so I cannot be held responsible for being such a F*#&ing" idiot to have passed over your excellent post! WHAT was I THINKING?????

** ** **

Let's begin with the five selections sent in by our blogger meet up friends. I'm starting with Blue Gal because I love her most of all. BG helped organizer the AU blogger meet up, and has been a great friend and mentor to me over the past year and a half. One of the things I love about BG is that she's a person of faith, who truly understands the importance and value of keeping church and state separate. So please enjoy Christian and American and never the two.... .

What can I say about PZ Myers who blogs at Pharyngula? That he's brilliant ... a science blogger ... an atheist ... or all of the above? ding, ding, ding ... the correct answer would be ALL of the above! It was great fun watching PZ chat it up with the Reverend Barry Lynn. What is even more fun is watching PZ take on both the Discovery Institute and PBS in his post Separation of church and state establishes a new religion!

When I first met this next blogger we both decided we must have bee separated at birth. It was like meeting my twin brother -- only he got all the looks! Tengrain, from Mock, Paper, Scissors, couldn't be with us in person, but he was certainly there in spirit. And as usual, he presents a compelling argument for why church-state separation is so important in his post The Public Library.

The last two entries in the AU blogger meet up category were sent in by a new friend, Vast Left. I'm including them both because they really highlight for me what I had hoped for when we first started thinking about hosting a meet up -- and that is to encourage more bloggers to become blogger lobbyists! Near the end of the second post, Vast Left says: "Please join me in building a strong, concise list of essential points (with links to source material) and sending it to our Reps’ offices." Yes! And now, I called up my Congressman and he said, quote... Part I and I called up my Congressman and he said, quote... Part II.

** ** **

When dealing with the anti-separation crowd the inevitable always comes up: So, you want the US to become a theocracy ... then tell me, which God do we pick? For more on this please read: A Particular God, from Daylight Atheism; Discovery Institute Reeling, from Bay of Fundie; and Alabama Governor Riley Asks Citizens to Curse Drought, from Avant News.

I will confess to being a "female chauvinist" ... what can I say? As a feminist and a lesbian, I'm pretty 'woman centered' -- which is why I selected the next three posts. They deal with issues important to women, and were written by women. Get ready to take action as you read $141 Million for Ineffective Education from Woman Tribune; inside the minds of women; Support International Violence Against Women Act from abyss2hope: a rape survivor's zigzag journey into the open; and America: The Country That Kills It's Citizens, from Menstrual Poetry. (Note to MP, I'll be watching SiCKO later today! )

The final four posts all deal with issues of importance to me. They are filled with information, insight, and some even include charts! And, they point out why friends don't let friends vote Republican! Please enjoy The Macaca Conundrum, from And Doctor Biobrain's Response Is...; The American Myth of Mobility Gets Another Nail In Its Coffin, from The Agonist; America DOES Torture, from Atheist Revolution; and last, but certainly not least, The media: dancing around a point, from Staring At Empty Pages.

**The End?**

Not yet!!

The next edition of Carnival of The Liberals on December 5th is the first edition of CotL's third year and will be hosted by Leo at Neural Gourmet.

CotL #53 will be the annual "best of" edition. The rules for this edition are somewhat different from previous editions of CotL:

• It is restricted to only bloggers who have appeared in CotL over the past year


• Bloggers should send in what they consider to be their "best" post from the past year that hasn't appeared in CotL


• From those submitted I'll pick what I consider to be the "best of the best" and run those (I'll also link to the rest on the CotL site).

And finally, Carnival of The Liberals is looking for hosts for next year. If you would like to have the fun of reading ALL the posts submitted, not just the ones selected, email Leo ("tng") Lincourt at: leolincourt AT gmail DOT com.

This was fun! Thanks, Leo, for inviting me!

** The End **

Flash Back - Piety and Politics

The video is from a year ago, but I wanted to let you know that Barry Lynn's book "Piety & Politics" is now out in paperback! Hey, even Bill O'Reilly suggests you should buy it! ha

Surf's Up!

A little early evening blog surfing revealed the following gems. Enjoy!

Republicans and race — the coda

Carpetbagger Report

She Must Have Had Her Fingers Crossed

Zaius Nation

The GOP needs to be rated XOP

distributorcap NY

I'm At The Gallery

Republic of Sestakastan

Naked Tetris

No Smoking in the Skull Cave

It's a Wonderful Life!

As a public service I'd like to help you with the "do's and don't's" of air travel. Before heading out to the airport get a really big suit case and just put everything you might possibly need during your trip in it. Try, if at all possible, to not carry ANYTHING onto an airplane. Trust me, the people waiting in line behind you at the security gate will be very appreciative.

If you MUST carry on personal items, make sure anything liquid is in the 3 oz or less range. Anything more than that will be kept at the gate. (And, TSA doesn't care HOW much you paid for that face cream girlfriend, so don't even go there!)

In perusing the TSA list a few things caught my eye. For example, here is a very short list of some of the items you CAN carry onto the plane:

• cigar cutters


• corkscrews (for some reason DCup comes to mind)


• knitting needles (thought of Blue Gal on this one)


• screwdrivers (seven inches or less in length)


• pliers (seven inches or less in length)

Now if you want to get picky, some of these items could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Cigar cutters -- there goes someone's fingers! Corkscrews, sharp end, could easily poke out an eye. And even something as inocquous as a knitting needle or a screwdriver could be a weapon in the right wrong hands.

So let's take a look at the items you CAN'T carry onto an airplane:

• guns (pretty obvious)


• box cutters (see above)


• knives


• hatchets


• drills (?)


• hammers


• crowbars


• brass knuckles


• stun guns


• hand grenades (well, yeah!)


• dynamite


• snow globes (WTF?)

Can you hear my brain coming to a screeching hault? Snow globes? Those fun things we all played with as a child?

Jamie Rhein writes:

While perusing the list of things not allowed as carry ons on airplanes, snow globes caught my eye. These are those items I usually associate with Christmas. Remember the one in "It's a Wonderful Life" -- the Jimmy Stewart classic holiday movie? The snow globe represented the main character's idlylic town--all cozy and snowy in winter. Even if you had that snow globe-- calling it an antique--a movie classic piece of memorabilia, TSA wouldn't blink and eye before snatching it up and selling it on Ebay. (See Catherine's and Neil's posts.) [...]

See, the water in the snow globe might not be water at all--and heaven knows what those white flakes or glitter that swirls about when you shake the globes might be made of. Plastic, sure. How about EXPLOSIVE plastic? Just kidding, I have no idea.

Only in America! ha

First snowfall

. . . and already I'm OVER IT!

Sure, for the first couple of years up here, it was cute. It was beautiful. It was wondrous and special. It was white Christmases and sledding and postcard-perfect winter scenes, just like I'd always imagined it would be when I was a kid living in South Texas, enduring 70-degree Christmas days and such.

But now? After five PA winters, I'm kinda tired of it. Sure, it's still beautiful and wondrous, but

--Not at 7:15 in the morning, when I'm digging the car out from under a night's snowfall.

--Not when I can't park in my driveway anymore because it's a hill, and if I park at the bottom I'll never get back up and out. (Not that I would mind it so much, but my boss might have a little to say about my not coming to work anymore.) Now I have to park in the little pull-off space up top, and I get covered by the snowplows every day.

--Not when I have to drive slowly and carefully, running the wipers constantly, washing the mud and salt off the windshield and trying not to think about the salt eating the car's paint and underside coating, rusting it from beneath.

--Not when the arthritis in my right foot and ankle are really bothering the heck out of me from the first snowfall to the last.

--Not when it starts getting dark at 4:30 in the afternoon.

I'll admit that I still love watching the birds at the feeders in the snow. They stand out against the pure white backdrop like little brown and red and blue gems. However, the light's usually so crappy that it's hard to get a good shot.

I still love looking out at the snow on the trees and the mountainsides, the fields covered with white blankets, the night-glow of reflected white between the clouds and the snow.

But I gotta tell you: this snow business ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Sunday Funnies

Support the writers, sign their petition, take action

Who are the corporations lying to?




Not The Daily Show, with Some Writer





Send Pencils to Support the Writers! (click pencil) Sign the petition!



TAKE ACTION!

There are six men who run the multi-media conglomerates, the companies that control almost everything you see on tv or in the movies. These individual CEOs have the power and influence to make a fair deal and end the strike, if they choose.

Leslie Moonves, President, CEO
CBS Corporation
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
http://www.cbscorporation.com/

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO
General Electric (NBC/Universal)
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
http://www.nbcuni.com/

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, CEO
News Corporation (Fox)
1211 Avenue of the Americas8th floor
New York, NY 10036
http://www.newscorp.com/

Jeffrey L. Bewkes, President, COO
Time Warner Inc. (Warner Brothers)
1 Time Warner Center
New York, NY 10019
http://www.timewarner.com/

Robert Iger, President, CEO
Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
corporate.disney.go.com

Sumner Redstone, Chairman
Viacom
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
http://www.viacom.com/

Contact them TODAY!

For additional information visit one of these sites:

Web hoax leads 13 year old girl to kill herself

This is the kind of story that just makes me crazy. A little girl, struggling with challenges faced by far too many kids these days, became the victim of a cruel hoax. What makes this so tragic is that one of the perpetrators of the fraud that led this 13 year old girl to take her own life is an adult!

Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's. [...]

Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about the hoax in a counselor's office about six weeks after Megan died. That's when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.

There doesn't seem to be laws that directly deal with what happened to Megan, but it seems there should be some consequence for an adult who takes part in this action.

John Kerry - too little, too late

Am I the only one amazed that Senator John Kerry has now vowed to disprove the Swift Boat claims? Thanks Senator, but it seems your zeal for the truth is, shall we say, a day late and a dollar short -- or shall I say a TRILLION dollars short. (The amount Bush & Co. have now spent on an illegal war.)

The Associated Press reports:

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt."

Kerry, a Navy veteran and former prosecutor, said he was willing to present his case directly to Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during Kerry's race against President Bush.

Kerry said he would donate any proceeds to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

So the question begs, why didn't you do this during the election Senator? Maybe if you had, much pain and suffering would have been alleviated.

Kerry claims one of the reasons he is doing this is to prevent other candidates from being "Swift-boated." I have a sneaking suspicion that the current Democratic front runner would have no hesitation about taking on the Swift-boat crowd!

SPICE Up Your Night