Control your jealousy.

We had a seriously uneventful weekend. We drove to San Marcos to get my hair cut because that's where my hair dresser is. Rob went with me to keep me company and because I bribe him with lunch at Mamacita's. Then Saturday night we went with Brian to dinner and to the Alamo Drafthouse Lakecreek to see The Village. We got there an hour early and it was already sold out. So rather than drive to another theater where it was likely to be sold out as well, we stayed and saw Anchorman, with Will Ferrell. Not the best movie of the year, but it actually had some pretty funny moments. Ebert gave Anchorman three stars and The Village only one star. So who knows? Maybe it was money better spent. Besides, I just love the Alamo Drafthouse. More movie theaters should sell beer.
We also spent some time this weekend watching Colonial House. The eight hour PBS reality series premiered in May and we've just now gotten around to watching the reccorded episodes. Twenty or so men and women go live as 1628 colonists in Maine. From pbs.org: "Residing in a 17th-century environment cultivated from extensive research, the colonists negotiate personal and communal challenges as they deal with the demoralizing weather, rustic living conditions and backbreaking labor. Among the points of dissension that arise in the colony are: the rigid class and gender roles, mandatory religious observance, and the puritanical civil laws of the era, particularly those pertaining to profanity."
Who says we don't know how to have an exciting weekend?

We call it free gift with purchase.

Texas Teens Finds Marijuana In McDonald's Dessert

Author Paula Danziger dead at 59

Childrens’ books included The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:01 p.m. ET July 09, 2004
NEW YORK - Paula Danziger, author of numerous popular books for children and young adults, has died of complications from a heart attack in New York City.
Danziger’s first novel, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, was published to glowing notices 30 years ago.
She also wrote the Amber Brown books about a pugnacious grade schooler.
Danziger grew up in New Jersey and became a schoolteacher in 1967. She says she always wanted to write, but didn’t start until a week in which she survived two car accidents in two days.
“Before I got hit by a bus,” she said.
Paula Danziger was 59.

The Church of Baseball

We leave for vacation on Wednesday, at some ungodly hour of the morning. Just two days left to pretend to work and throw way too many clothes and shoes into a suitcase. How does a girl with 20 pairs of flip flops narrow it down? So Wednesday morning, we board a plane bound for Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame (which we will not be visiting). Also the home of James Fenimore Cooper and his lovely touristy estate, which we also not be visiting. Oh, and Barnyard Swing, Cooperstown's newest miniature golf course, which we will totally be visiting. We will be staying in a house on the shore of pristine Lake Otsego (according to the chamber of commerce). We will be without television, without internet access, and likely have very spotty cell phone reception for seven whole days. I will easily not worry about work, or bills, and I will struggle a lot to not worry about the four bedroom house in Anderson Mill that I'm in love with and desperately hope has not been bought out from under us while we're out of town (I would paste the link to the house here, but you would just buy the house for yourself and our friendship would be ruined). I will be laying on the dock, reading a trashy romance novel or riding around in Rob's grandfather's 80 year-old wooden boat, or attempting to hunt for non-baseball themed souvenirs. Try not to be eaten up with jealousy.

yay for books!

Pamie's book drive for the San Diego Public Libraries is going strong. They've received over 200 books, but they still need many more due to drastic budget cutbacks.
It's super easy to donate. Each library branch has an Amazon wishlist, many of them filled with books for children and young adults. I donated today. The Ranch San Diego Branch Library should be receiving:
Drawing Cats by Katy Bratun which was ranked a “must have” on the library’s wishlist.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery which is still one of my favorite books of all time, and every girl should get to read it.

Remember the Ladies: 100 Great Amererican Women by Cheryl Harness, because sure, remember the ladies. But the best part? The misspelling of American? That’s how it appears on Amazon. I’m hoping that on the book itself it’s spelled correctly.

It was fun, easy, and now I get to be smug all day. What are you sending?

Miles Allen Matheny

My friend Brian (we've been friends for more than ten years) lost his brother Allen this week. Allen died suddenly at the age of 21. He was burried today in Pflugerville after a funeral so full that they ran out of seating. Brian eulogized him with the perfect mixture of humor and love and Allen will be greatly missed. Allen's obituary can be viewed online. If you're the praying sort, please add Brian and his family to your prayers and thoughts.

Bush, Bumperstickers, and Books

We went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight. It's showing at six theaters in Austin, two in North Austin, one in South Austin, one on the UT campus and one in Pflugerville, a suburb of Austin. We went to the theater closest to us, just down the street. We arrived for the 4pm show 30 minutes early hoping for a good seat. The movie is showing on two screens there and it was sold out all day until 7:45pm. So we bought tickets then, went home for a while and went back, again 30 minutes early. We walked in to find the line to get in for the movie snaking around the entire lobby of the theater. Rob held our place in line while I went to buy concessions. The 5 person concession line moved much slower than the line of at least 50 people waiting to get into the film, so I gave up and we went in and ended up in the front row.
The movie is great, even better than Bowling for Columbine. It has funny moments, but more incredibly sad ones. It left me feeling angry (I had no idea I was still bitter about Florida), a little helpless and desperately hoping there were some undecided voters in the crowd tonight. They can't possibly be undecided now. If you haven't seen it, you have to. Go right now, this weekend. Pamie is right, this box office counts. This film is already sending a message. Let this weekend's message be from us.
After the parade of liberal bumper stickers we saw at the theater, I'm feeling a little guilty for not being gutsy enough to display my politics on my vehicle, so I'll have to peruse EvolveFish.com.
In other important news, Pamie has started this year's book drive, to benefit the San Diego Public Libraries, which have experienced drastic budget cuts this year. She organized a book drive last year that netted over 650 books for the Oakland Public Libraries. I'll be donating on Friday (pay day). I'm really excited at the idea of donating books that I might not have gotten to read if I hadn't had a library card. I'm also thinking about going through my shelves to find some books that can be donated to the Austin Public Libraries. What about you?

I spoke too soon.

Best article of the day: When Vending Machines Attack- Notify Homeland Security!

All the things you wanted to know...

• I don't have anything new to share, not even a good link.
• If I don't find a good link, I don't feel like blogging.
• It's Friday, almost 4pm and I have one more work order left to do that I've been putting off the entire day.
• I'm debating over whether to buy M&M's or Reese's Pieces from the vending machine.
• Trying to decide if going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 tomorrow will be too much of a hassle (like going to an Al Franken book signing, Austin liberals crawl out from under their rocks en masse).
• I finished my 100 Things About Me list. It's about as fascinating as everyone else's.
• I received email from my friends Cacedra and Leslie. Cacedra has braces too and Leslie has moved to Cairo. Cause she's freakin crazy! The more people that I know travel, the more I feel like I've never done anything or been anywhere.
• Rob and I have bought our plane tickets to go spend a week at his family's lake house in Cooperstown, New York in July. They have a new mini golf course!
• In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that my work vending machine no longer carries Little Debbie Zebra Cakes.

Finally!

Minne Driver Gets Album Deal.

Welcome to My Cube Hell

Take this handy quiz: Which Office Moron Are You? and find out if you deserve a swank window seat or a cubby hole in storage B. (Oh and while you're down there, if you could take care of that cockroach problem we've been having...?) Admit it, you're the incompetent egotist, aren't you? Don't feel bad, I'm the old timer.

Link submitted by Julia

If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?

And here I was, just the other day, thinking that cooking hot dogs is so hard. Surely there's a way it can be made easier? Pop-Up Hot Dog Cooker: Making the World a Better Place.

Wow! Work CAN be fun!

Time wasting climbs to new levels: Portrait Illustration Maker. What does it say about me that I never get tired of making little icons out of myself?

What ever happened to flowers?

Lunch at Cracker Barrel? $25.99. Mouse trap? 69 cents. Being charged with felony extortion for Mother's Day? Priceless.
Mom & Son Accused of Planting Mouse in Soup
Who's the lucky medical professional who had to perform the autopsy on the mouse? Bet their mom is proud.

Wrong In So Many Ways

Easily the best article of the day: Man Commits Suicide After Sex with Hen.

Loving the last sentence:
"The hen was slaughtered after the incident. "

At least the home wrecking hussy got what was coming to her.

I didn't even know they sold church steeples as accessories.

Now tell me again "the comptroller never favors one religion over another"?

Carole Keeton Strayhorn: The lesser of two evils steps it up a notch.

Texas official says Unitarian church not a tax-exempt religion

BY R.A. DYER Knight Ridder Newspapers

AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - Unitarian Universalists have for decades presided over births, marriages and memorials. The church operates in every state, with more than 5,000 members in Texas alone.

But according to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Texas Unitarian church isn't really a religious organization - at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: The organization "does not have one system of belief."

Never before - not in this state nor any other - has a government agency denied Unitarians tax-exempt status because of the group's religious philosophy, church officials say. Strayhorn's ruling clearly infringes upon religious liberties, said Dan Althoff, board president for the Denison, Texas, congregation that was rejected for tax exemption by the comptroller's office.

"I was surprised - surprised and shocked - because the Unitarian church in the United States has a very long history," said Althoff, who notes that father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians.

Strayhorn's ruling, as well as a similar decision by former Comptroller John Sharp, has left the comptroller's office straddling a sometimes murky gulf separating church and state.

What constitutes religion? When and how should government make that determination? Questions that for years have vexed the world's great philosophers have now become the province of the state comptroller's office.

Questions about the issue were referred to Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's top lawyer, who said Strayhorn has applied a consistent standard - and then stuck to it. For any organization to qualify as a religion, members must have "simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power," he said.

"We have got to apply a test, and use some objective standards," Ancira said. "We're not using the test to deny the exemptions for a particular group because we like them or don't like them."
Since Strayhorn took over in January 1999, the comptroller's office has denied religious tax-exempt status to 17 groups and granted them to more than 1,000, according to records obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Although there are exceptions, the lion's share of approvals have gone to groups that appear to have relatively traditional faiths, records show.

But of the denials, at least a fourth include less traditional groups. In addition to the Denison Unitarian church, the rejected groups include a Carrollton, Texas, group of atheists and agnostics, a New Age group in Bastrop, Texas, and the Whispering Star Clan/Temple of Ancient Wisdom, an organization of witches in Copperas Cove, Texas.

Some of the denials occurred because of missing paperwork or other problems, according to the comptroller's office. A few, like the denial for the New Age group and the witches group, were decided because their services were closed to the public, according to documents.

But the denials of the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison, the North Texas Church of Freethought in Carrollton, and an earlier denial by Sharp for the Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin, were ordered because the organizations did not mandate belief in a supreme being.

The disputed tax dollars don't amount to much, but the comptroller has taken a stand on principle, Ancira said.

"The issue as a whole is, Do you want to open up a system where there can be abuse or fraud, or where any group can proclaim itself to be a religious organization and take advantage of the exception?" he said.

Those who oppose the comptroller's "God, gods or supreme being" test say that it can discriminate against legitimate faiths. For example, applying that standard could disqualify Buddhism because it does not mandate belief in a supreme being, critics say.

Opponents note that the federal government applies less stringent rules for federal tax exemptions and yet manages to discourage fraud and abuse. They also question whether the comptroller's office has formulated excuses to discriminate against nontraditional groups, such as those that include witches and pagans.

But Ancira says it's up to the comptroller's office to interpret state law, which he describes as rather vague. He insists the comptroller never favors one religion over another.

"This comptroller, in particular, wants everybody on a level playing field," he said.

The comptroller's office has not always barred "creedless" religions from tax exemption, said Douglas Laycock, a University of Texas law professor who specializes in religious liberty issues.
That standard first came up in 1997, when then-Comptroller Sharp ruled against the Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin. In making that decision, Sharp overturned the recommendation of his staff.

The Ethical Culture Fellowship sued, claiming that Sharp overstepped his authority. Allied with the group in the ongoing lawsuit are pastors from a broad range of faiths, including Baptists, Lutherans and Mennonites.

Both the lower court and the Texas Supreme Court have ruled against the state's decision. In one opinion, an appeals court said the comptroller's test "fails to include the whole range of belief systems that may, in our diverse and pluralistic society, merit the First Amendment protection."
Strayhorn vows to continue the legal fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. "Otherwise, any wannabe cult who dresses up and parades down Sixth Street on Halloween will be applying for an exemption," she said in an April 23 news release.

The Red River Unitarian Universalist Church, the 50-member congregation whose tax application was rejected by Strayhorn's office, has held services in Denison for seven years. Althoff said his group includes "hard-core atheists" as well as "New Agey-type people."

But the lack of a single creed is a hallmark of Unitarianism, Althoff said. Instead, Unitarian Universalists have seven guiding principles, including "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part," according to the Unitarian Universalist Web site.

The group also draws from various religious and philosophical traditions, including Jewish, Christian, humanist and Earth-centered teachings, but promotes individual freedom of belief, according to the Web site. It notes that Unitarians and Universalists have operated in the United States for at least 200 years, although the two groups did not merge until 1961.

It now includes about 40 congregations in Texas, and more than 1,000 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Despite its lack of a specific creed, Unitarian Universalism is as much a religion as any other, Althoff said. From his perspective, religion is not just about the answers to life's big questions, but also calls on people to evaluate the questions themselves.

"It seems to me that any (group) that is specifically organized to address and explore the issues of what constitutes the good life, both here and perhaps in the afterworld, would qualify" as a religion, Althoff said.

The Rev. Anthony David, lead pastor of Pathways Church in Southlake, Texas, said he is disturbed by the comptroller's decision because it ignores Unitarian Universalists' belief that spiritual fulfillment can emerge in "different ways at different levels."

"It reflects an incredible misunderstanding of what a church needs to look like," David said.
Pathways teaches that God is a term that describes the source of ultimate meaning and purpose, but the church does not advocate a one size fits all theology, David said.

"Creedlessness doesn't mean no belief or anything goes," he said.

Craig Roshaven of Fort Worth's First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church said he has followed the comptroller's decisions with growing dismay.

His group has tax-exempt status, but he wonders what's to prevent Strayhorn from revoking it.
"The comptroller's same logic could be applied to any of us," he said.

Ancira said the comptroller's office has no plans for such reversals. But, then again, said Ancira, "there's nothing preventing us from doing so."

(Staff writer Darren Barbee contributed to this report.)
© 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Iraq the Model

"Yes, we should put our hands in each other’s because we have a common destiny." - from an Iraqi blog.

Which sign of the apocalypse is this?

Well, to be fair, May does have a history of apocalypses...
The Quizno's Spongemonkeys have been outdone by the Subservient Chicken.

"What about prom Blaine?"

Thought this was a great idea for a charity: Florida Teen Leaves Dress Charity as Legacy. And how hard could it be to donate? If you too have an old prom dress laying around, unused, at the bottom of a rubbermaid storage bin, visit Becca's Closet to donate. Think there's actually some needy girl out there who wants my harlot red, floor length, Scarlet O'Hara number, circa 1996?