Prayer and Rain down in the Bible Belt

So in case you live under a rock, there’s a drought in Georgia. A bad one in the Atlanta area. Warnings of 70 days of drinkable water left are thrown out daily. Local news spends entire segments on drought news. Lake levels are now a staple to the weather report.

Governor Purdue had a good, old fashioned, prayer for rain vigil 2 weeks ago at the Georgia capitol. Something I think we’ve been made fun of for a bit, something I’ve certainly made fun of for the past few weeks, especially when they claimed success as it rained the next day. The former meteorologist in me knew it was going to rain then, as it had been in the forecast for ages, whether the prayer vigil was going on or not.

I had practically forgotten until tonight when the local NBC station did a news station about a prayer vigil for rain in Snellville, a suburb of Atlanta, today. And it rained, and they claimed success. “It rained even before the start.” Once again, it was going to rain despite of any prayer vigils going on.

The news put up a graphic saying that from Nov. 1-14th, no rain. Then the vigil, and then its rained an inch since then. This irked me. Besides the obvious selection basis (It rained in July. That was prior to the prayer vigil as well.) they were leading us to the conclusion that the prayer vigil worked. Especially when the reporter practically said so, and then the newscasters talked about it amongst themselves, and the power of prayer. This offended the former fundamentalist atheist in me, and I was pretty annoyed by it and obviously still am or I wouldn’t be writing about it, two hours after the fact.

But now I’m wondering why I’m so angry. I certainly wish that instead of praying Governor Sonny would be working on a comprehensive statewide water plan. I wish people were working out how they were going to conserve water instead of praying. And I wish people would stop expecting divine intervention when we ought to be working out how we can help ourselves.

But does that mean I should be filled with righteous indignation over the mere mention of prayer vigils for rain, especially when they try to take credit for rain?

Prayer vigils shouldn’t about expecting divine intervention- they should be about providing comfort. There’s a fair amount of fear, media driven or not, down here about the water situation. (What can we do? We’re powerless! What happens if we run out of water? etc.) I think, as an outside looking in when it comes to prayer, that it cheapens the whole notion of prayer to be praying for rain.  Prayer should be used as a comfort, and not as public policy for curing the drought.

Millenials and Political Beliefs

Pretty interesting article on political beliefs of us young folk.

An article of note for the parents out there

I am quite happy I don’t have children, but if you do check out this article via CNN about raising a compassionate child.

And even if you don’t have kids, read it anyways.  It’s good.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/01/02/par.compassion/index.html

There are a couple of suggestions on there a little TOO Unitarianesque for me, but in the whole the suggestions are pretty darn good.  So go read.

Female Genital Mutilation / Female Circumcision

There’s been a lot of press in Atlanta surrounding Female Genital Mutilation and Female Circumcision. I’ve seen it during the first segment of every local news program I’ve watched today.

Now you may wonder why a gay guy care s about this. I first heard of Female Circumcision in the 9th grade, and pretty much ever year after that in High School. We talked about it in French Class of all places, with the utmost cool Mrs. Chuites (one of the best teachers ever. She totally knew and accepted that I was gay, for example) whom I had for all four years of French in High School. Now, keep in mind, this wasn’t that long ago (graduated class of 2000). I didn’t quite get it at first, for I was a naïve ninth grader, but I educated myself and found the practice to be horrific.

I am reminded of the Vagina Monologues, which I saw every year it was performed when I was a student @ GaTech. My best friend Sarah was in it one year, and she was responsible for these little facts and interludes while people were setting up. In one spot, she talked how the clitoris was the only part in either the male or female body there for pure pleasure, and how female circumcision brutally cuts it off. Because women shouldn’t get pleasure from sex. The only purpose is to make babies, and if women get pleasure from it then they’ll all be whores and society will crumble and we’ll all fall into Hell and be hot and poked for all eternity.

Here is one of many articles on the current controversy here in Atlanta.

This is from the International Herald Tribune -

And one from the AJC (registration required) -

General Resources on FGM -

This is from ReligiousTolerance.org -

Info from the World health Organization -

Hop on over to Amnesty International for more info on what you can do to help stop this.

Now I understand it’s a cultural thing and we should try to be a little more multiculturist in our lives. But there’s no excusing brutality to children. If women want to make the decision to cut off their clitoris when they’re adults, then good luck to them I won’t stop you.

But to force it on kids is morally reprehensible and this guy, if he’s proven to have actually done this, then should sit in jail for a long time.

On Book Banning – pt. 1 – frame of reference

The announcement of Banned Book Week has caused me to think about issues I can safely say I haven’t thought of before.

This issue of banning books is a dangerous idea.

There are purists who insist banning any book is inherently wrong.  But I think some books probably should be banned.  I’ve never read it, but it’s rumored that the Anarchist’s Cookbook has how to make all sorts of bombs in it.  I don’t think that book should end up in the hands of Unabomber, Part 2, or in the hands of a manic-depressive who ran out of lithium.

But I totally understand and agree with the thought that if you ban one book, then where does the end?  And possibly more frightening, who decides what is dangerous enough to be banned and what isn’t?

Now the best example of banning-gone-awry is the attempt to get Harry Potter banned because it popularizes magic.   Now to most of us it seems off-the-wall, but we need to change our frame of reference and look at those concerned about Harry Potter.  They just might really believe that Harry Potter might ruin their children’s future and calls them to a life of freaky magic with frog sacrifices.  And who am I to say that they’re wrong?  I want to say that their beliefs are foolish and misguided, but I’m sure they see mine as misguided…so who decides who’s right?

I doubt the evidence is there to support the idea that Harry Potter leads to the occult, so I want to say that barring evidence that a book is doing actual “harm” – but wait, who decides the definition of harm, ugh – then it should be readily available.  Until then it is up to the parents to decide what their kids read – it’s not up to the libraries to be parents for you.

You might have the best intentions in your heart when you want to ban Harry Potter because it will convert a whole generation to Wiccan practices and condemn them to hell for all eternity, but you have to agree with me to not impose our thoughts and ideals on everyone else’s kids.

Because I really, really think everyone should have to read Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite in elementary school.

It’s Banned Book Week!!

Thanks to The Happy Feminist and CUUMBAYA for poitning out Banned Book week. The group behind Banned Books Week is the ALA – although it more accuratley should be called “Challenged Books Week” “Banned Books Week” rolls off the tounge easier.

Down here in the Atlanta Metro area, more specifically Gwinnett County, a lady (no doubt supported by some group) wanted to get rid of the Harry Potter books in school libraries because of the referenced to witchcraft and wizardry. I’m sure every kid who reads Harry Potter grows up to be a wiccian. If a kid changed his religion because of Harry Potter, yes I’d be worried about the kid but I wouldn’t blame the books for it – I’d blame whatever religion the kid used to be that caused him to see hope and more answers in Harry Potter than their religion.

There are some interesting tidbits on that ALA website – like this, the most often occuring reasons for Challenges:

Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (see The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books):

 

• 1,607 were challenges to “sexually explicit” material (up 161 since 1999);
• 1,427 to material considered to use “offensive language”; (up 165 since 1999)
• 1,256 to material considered “unsuited to age group”; (up 89 since 1999)
• 842 to material with an “occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,”; (up 69 since 1999)
• 737 to material considered to be “violent”; (up 107 since 1999)
• 515 to material with a homosexual theme or “promoting homosexuality,” (up 18 since 1999) and
• 419 to material “promoting a religious viewpoint.” (up 22 since 1999)

Other reasons for challenges included “nudity” (317 challenges, up 20 since 1999), “racism” (267 challenges, up 22 since 1999), “sex education” (224 challenges, up 7 since 1999), and “anti-family” (202 challenges, up 9 since 1999).

419 challenges for “promoting a religious view point.” So, how much do you want to bet that books promoting Christianity weren’t challenge much but it was books “promoting” other religions.

I was also looked at the lists of most popular books banend or challenged. One of my faviorte books, Flowers for Algernon, has been challenged more than the Anarchist’s Cookbook.  I’ve read a lot of them, but I’ve still have some literary subversion to go!  I

Uh, excuse me?

Lets let this simmer for a minute.  The Georgia DOT wants to expand the interestate right by my appartment from 16 to 23 lanes.

Considering I can see I-75 through the trees in my apartment complex…it might not exist once this program gets rolling (I was planning on moving anyways…but geesh, this is the only affordable appartments I know of in the area.)  There’s nothing more fun than having to take the Delk Road exit when heading north on 75.  You’ve got about half a mile to cross over 5 lanes of traffic…if you start in the right lane (the lovely Windy Hill – 285 exit merger comes and whallops cha.)  I travel 75 each day to work, luckily I dont hit rush hour (head north at 12:30pm, south at 10pm), but theres always a lot of cars on the road.
Now, granted, it’d be nice for something to be done, since theres always a bottlneck at the 120 loop, but, come on, thats totally not the answer.  Give me rail, don’t give me an interstate bigger than an aircraft carrier.

Burnt English Muffin Morning News Check – Tuesday Feb. 7, 2005

Just enough time for a quick smelly news check this morning before dealing with work stuff.

And its a special Budget Edition! The time of the year when all policy wonks get so excited thye get wet. Well, this year its not from being excited, but from crying.

Prezznit Bush released his proposed budget for 07, and its a disaster. By spending so much on “homeland security” and the Pentagon, we are destorying what makes this nation America, and the true security of our country. People with good paying jobs with good training (job training is getting hit) makes this country more secure. A vibrant, healthy people, with adequate health care…that makes this country more secure. We cannot judge how well our country is doing, how good our country is, or progress based off how those at the top are doing, but judge based on how those at the bottom of society are doing. This budget fucks the poor, the young, and the elderly and leaves the gigantic papercuts to prove it.

The budget preparers must have been smoking crack when they came up with this budget. Thats with respect to their decefict projections and their talk that its decreasing the national debt. What a load of crap. There are so many assumptions in this budget that it makes it look like, well, I can’t think of an example where a lot of assumptions are made, but if you can think of one, let me know.

Burnt English Muffin Morning News Check – Thursday Feb. 2, 2006

Ok, so it’s not morning anymore. Woke up rather late today (as in, two hours late), so this gets pretty much cancelled. But the lowlights of the news today:

More on T-ShirtGate. “Young said he wouldn’t be so mad if it were just Sheehan. “I totally disagree with everything she stands for,” he said. But by removing his wife, Gainer’s officers clearly “acted precipitously,” Young said.” Thats the Congressman whose wife was thrown out of the SOTU address. Of course, if it were just a liberal, its ok, but if its a conservative, then its not ok. Nice to see the first amendment, and the right to wear t-shirts, only applies to those in power. Via Washington Post.

Congress cut all sorts of social programs yesterday. Thats right, lets stick it to the poor, the students, and the worst off in society in the name of four hundred dollars to rich bastards who don’t need it. Heres what the headline should be: “REPUBLICAN CONGRESS SUPPORTS DEADBEAT DADS.” Don’t believe me? “State-led efforts to force deadbeat parents to pay their child support may also have to be curtailed.” I would love for my sisters congressman, who voted for the bill, to explain to her why her deadbeat ex husband shouldn’t have to help pay for daycare as she puts herself through college. Jackasses. Via Washington Post

And lastly, since I’ve got to go eat lunch and head to work, I always love it when there are the epic traffic accidents. Not the minor ones where you are backed up but traffic’s still moving, but the ones that shut down part of the city. Last nite, around my part of town, Cobb Parkway was shut down at Terrell Mill due to an accident, but today even better, when a trailer overturned and spilled batteries everywhere shutting down the east side of 285. There have been better ones – the overturned truck that carried windshields on the north side of the perimeter, and when the truck full of raw sewage a couple of years ago overturned on the west side of 285, and the raw sewage baked in the sun.

Burnt English Muffin Morning News Check – Wednesday, Feb. 1m 2006

What’s that horrid stench? Ah, Kinsi burnt his english muffin again. That must mean time for the Burnt English Muffin News Check, for this, the first day in Feburary.

Last night was the State of the Union address. Such a shame I had to miss it because of work. The news write-ups don’t sound very favorable, quelle surprise. The only line that was noteworthy was the comment about being addicted to oil, which sounds good but I doubt Bush will do anything about it since he’s an oil man. Didn’t he try this hydrogen car stuff a year or two again? See how much effort he put behind that?

The AP had some good articles. The consensus? The State of the Union, both the speech and the actual state of our union, smells:

I think people who still believe the president and everything he says have some other problems they need to have checked out. Via Yahoo! News.

A great analysis of the STOU, which I’m guessing is like an Op-Ed, done by an AP reporter. Via Yahoo!

Howard Kurtz’s comments, over at the Washington Post, do a good job of summarizing why the State of the Union seemed like doublespeak, but kinda rambled off on some tangents towards the end of the column. I, too, wish the President could have said something about Health Care, as right now I am one of the 40-some-odd million workers without health care (which, granted, will be changing in about a week or two, because I got lucky with my job) and currently making payments on my gallbladder surgery last March.

One last story about the SOTU, then time to move on. Cindy Sheehan was arrested at it for apparently wearing an incorrect T-Shirt. Unbelievable and ridiculous. I’m getting mighty tired of dissenters being arrested because of T-shirts. If anyone should be arrested for wearing offensive t-shirts, it should be anyone who wears Abercromie t-shirts. Then instead of the secret police, we would have the fashion police.

Alito is now on the surprme court. Excuse me while I go hurl.

And finally, in this abbreviated version since I’m running late for my workout, the Cobb County legislators are giving themselves a much needed 4% pay raise. NO MORE PAY RAISES FOR POLITICIANS UNTIL WE RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE. Politicians’ income should rise at the same rate as janitors’ salary. They both deal with shit, although janitors clean it up and politicians just say it, smell like it, act like it, well, you get the picture. So which one deserves the higher pay raise…hmm…

Update: Cindy put up a diary over at daily kos describing what happened last nite when she got arrested: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/1/31944/23746