Spring, she is here, tra la. The forsythia is in full bloom, the air soft enough for sandals. Sandals! In the laundry this afternoon I was pairing wool socks. Seasons change two ways — gradually and all of a sudden.
So what did we do? Drove to the grocery with the sunroof open. Yee-haw.
Eh, you’re not here to read what I did on an unseasonably warm day. You want to while away your Good Friday with bloggage:
See the video that made my 9-year-old giggle so hard I feared she’d wet the couch. It’s violent and contains mild profanity, so we’re right on schedule to be watching “The Godfather” together in a year or two, don’t you think? And thanks, Eric Zorn, for pointing us to “The Easter Bunny Hates You.”
Mapping religion in America is a fascinating time-stealer, if an educational one. I’m only sorry the maps won’t blow up larger.
Why I’m glad this doofus is no longer my congressman, part of a never-ending series.
Our long local nightmare has ended: Public-radio pledge week, which was public-radio pledge fortnight here, is finally over. The good news/bad news ratio: They exceeded their “revised goal.” The goal was revised, and pledge time lengthened, after the station got a bit more than half their original goal. (It’s like the Soviet Union, isn’t it?) Station officials blame a poor local economy, and claim the general manager’s being under indictment for embezzling from his last public-radio employer? Had no effect. Well, it is Detroit.
brian stouder said on April 14, 2006 at 11:37 am
Souder IS a doofus.
At least HE will actually have a Democratic opponent (Dr Hayhurst, who I support) – unlike most of the rest of the R ballot.
One would think that the D’s could, at bare-assed minimum, run a full slate of candidates against the R’s – even if all they did was get some local lawyers to lend their names to the ballot.
But one set of doofus’s begets another
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Michael G said on April 14, 2006 at 12:33 pm
What are you guys crying about? My congressman is John Doolittle.
Wow! Check out Godless Oregon.
At least we’re lucky with our very fine PBS radio station. They have managed to cut the pledge drives down to 5 days and then only beg intermittently. The same cannot be said for our mediocre (very) PBS TV station. They beg annoyingly and incessantly. Maybe quality matters.
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nancy said on April 14, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Why is public radio so good and public television so awful? Everything they used to do well — childrens’ programming, history, cooking, etc. — has been outclassed by cable. What’s left? A few BBC costume dramas, Jim Lehrer and “Frontline.” I watch “Frontline.” And that’s about it.
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Danny said on April 14, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Brian, gerrymandering seems to be the problem in California. In the last few election cycles, I do not believe any federal or state office changed parties (with the exception of governor, but Gray Davis was a complete disaster and deserved to be recalled).
It’s infuriating because both parties were in on the deal and made behind-closed-door agreements for these “safe” districts. The result, is that the electorate is totally ignored by both parties. Neither party spends any money nor puts up quality candidates nor gives a crap because it just doesn’t matter. And to top it off with whipped cream and a cherry, they think that all of us are stupid and do not know.
Anyway, it is Good Friday and I am reminded that my true citizenship is above, thankfully. The skies are darkening as if on cue. Have a great weekend. God bless you all.
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harry near indy said on April 14, 2006 at 2:12 pm
nancy, thanks for the regions of mind site. i like maps, and i’ll go view it later, when i have more time — after i read your site, of course.
souder may no longer be your congressman, but he represents the 2nd district and its residents — against the will of many of them, i bet.
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John said on April 14, 2006 at 2:59 pm
That doofus is a big step-up from my congressman in New Jersey, E. Scott Garrett R-5 who believes in a literal interpretation of the bible, wants to legislate his religous beliefs on the nation, actually believes the world was created in six days and that Noah lit the ark with fireflies. Garrett is funded almost in total by the club for growth, and is famed for having the most frightening comb-over in the house.
He also has been brutal to seniors, students, and is on a mission to cut funding for Head Start. I’ll take my chances with Souder since this is at least a Red State. You should see how bad they gerrymandered NJ to come up with a district conservative enough to elect Scotty G!
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alex said on April 14, 2006 at 3:48 pm
I attended a luncheon some months ago where Souder was the guest speaker. He basically attempted to explain the Bush tax cuts and how well they’re working, although I confess it must have been beyond my ken because it made absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.
His other big announcement at that time, and I paraphrase: “We’ve got to make things right for Christians in the classroom. We’ve got to make science fair and balanced. Intelligent design will be the next big thing in Indiana.”
Yeah, instead of getting stupid on marijuana let’s get even stupider on the opiate of the masses. Our kids will be so dumb they won’t even know they’re not copping a buzz from the shit.
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a different Connie said on April 14, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I copied those religion maps into Word and then expanded their “boxes.” They were much easier to read that way.
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nancy said on April 14, 2006 at 4:58 pm
As Alex points out, Souder is hardly a step up, John. He and your congressman have very similar beliefs on the origin of the universe.
Don’t know about those fireflies, though.
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John said on April 14, 2006 at 6:11 pm
I guess I was saying that Souder fits this district better than Scott Garrett fit my old one. And he did believe in the fireflies. NJ’s 5th CD looks like a snake winding through Northern NJ with lots of blue swampland surrounding it.
He only won the first time becuase in 2002 his Dem opponent decided it was a good time to start pining for the good old days when she attended the American School in Kabul and how if she lost she planned on moving overseas. I’m still waiting for her and Martin Sheen and Jackson Brown to start house hunting
And Souder has better hair than Scott’s comb over…
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Danny said on April 14, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Nancy, I don’t know of Souder, except what I read around here, but I am wondering. Is the issue his repudiatition of the idea of “ex nihilo” or whether he thinks that it should be taught in public school?
Actually, it should be taught in public school, just not as science. And neither should the rather far fetched idea that all of this existence just popped out nothing. They are both philosophy. Anyone with a modicum of intellectual honesty would see that.
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ashley said on April 15, 2006 at 1:57 pm
There are bigger maps here.
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alex said on April 15, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Souder has said flat out that he does not believe in evolution. Either he thinks people are stupid and this is a way to suck up to them for their votes or he is himself stupid. Either way, he’s not fit to be running the country in my opinion.
Danny, if Intelligent Design is junk science then it’s also junk philosophy. It’s the product of political scheming by zealots, not some momentous, earth-shaking discovery in the pursuit of wisdom. Biblical creation is cheapened by it and in no way should the two be confused. In its proper context biblical creation would be discussed alongside mythology, which is more correctly the turf of the history department. If Intelligent Design has a rightful place in the schools, that place would be political science.
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Danny said on April 15, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Alex, I agree that “Intelligent Design” is not science. As far as I can discern, there are no testable hypothoses. It is philosophy. But, as I have said before, science and philosphy have always gone hand in hand. It should at least be mentioned in science class that philosphy of how things came to be drives the science to a certain degree.
However, that distinction is not made and evolution is presented as wrapped up with origins of life and origins of the universe into one neat little package, complete, that no one with “half a brain” had better dare to question. And with this, the lines between science and philosophy are blurred in a very intellectually dishonest manner. When there is not enough time for some unlikely event to have occurred, timescales are arbitrarily and exponentially increased to hedge the bets on a ex nihilo creation.
When there is doubt, it would be more honest to say, “We don’t know.”
Not everything is knowable, ya know.
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mary said on April 16, 2006 at 1:48 pm
My local PBS station really is lousy most of the time. Frontline is about it. Whenever I check out what’s on PBS, I get some crap like the current mutation of Riverdance. The worst thing I’ve ever seen on PBS was John Tesh playing his own compositons to accompany Nadia Comaneci bouncing around Red Rocks Amphitheatre. They ran that show during a fund drive, thinking it would inspire folks to write checks.
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Jeff said on April 17, 2006 at 6:51 am
Hey, a shoutout for “American Experience.” But “Antiques Roadshow” is just cultural consumerism repacked in a nicely aged wrapper. Generally, except for cooking shows (all hail Rick Bayless!), public radio is indeed better than public tv. Maybe because the market for talk, left, right, center, leaves NPR better positioned for holding a good audience through the week, setting them up for Garrison and Scott Simon and Bob Garfield over the weekend.
Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend; Christ is Risen, y’all!
Peace,
Jeff
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Jeff said on April 17, 2006 at 6:55 am
Oh, and say a prayer for me Tuesday; i’m appearing on a panel/forum at Capital University as the token religious supporter of evolution in an “intelligent design and the media” discussion. For your post-Easter reading, wherever you stand on the issue: few subjects are more compelling as Charles Darwin’s spiritual struggles through the 1800’s, and where he ended up is known only between he and God, but the Adrian Desmond biography is the best among a number of fine accounts, including our Chuck’s own “Autobiography” and his journals in “The Voyage of the Beagle.”
pax, jbg
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