The new phones are in color (ooh, snappy!) and they have a camera built in. I don't have a holster to carry my cell phone on my belt (Holy utility belt, Batman!), so I just put it in my pocket with the PDA and the flash drive. I am SUCH a geeky nerd.

The only problem is that the PDA presses against the camera button, so I have taken more photos of my pants pocket than any human being could rationally hope to use.

And before anyone else says it, I will "Photos inside your pants? Well, given how many men have been in your pants, I should hardly think it would be a novelty." (To be followed by sardonic smile and a bitchy drawn out drag on a cigarette. I think we need George Sanders as Addison DeWitt in All About Eve to deliver the line. Gad, this paragraph is SO GAY!

I had an odd dream Sunday morning. I had gone to some kind of meeting at Perkin's or some restaurant like that. I had to leave and was due for some other tax. When I got into my car, it wouldn't turn over, and was sort of drifting around like it was in neutral. My car was basically careening across the parking lot, but sort of slowly, and I was worried about something being damaged. At one point I tried to slow down by backing into a brick planter, but that sounded like a large crash, and I worried about having seriously damaged the car or myself. I wanted to avoid having to deal with the trouble and expense of fixing the car, but I was also worried about what I was damaging by ignoring the problem. At one point, I hit another car.

Finally, I got onto the road. The car wasn't really running, but it was still sort of meandering/moving forward. I was in a rural area. I finally saw a car repair place off on the right. I asked about having the car fixed. The mechanics deferred to the owner, who was tentative about getting it fixed within the next week. My mind raced with how to get to work, how to get groceries, etc. I also wondered if the mechanics were up to the task.

Anywho, when I woke up, I was just so glad and relieved that I wasn't dealing with an auto accident and a non-functioning car. ;)

Subject: Fw: Columbine High School Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 15:18:42 -0400

Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 7:31 AM
Subject: Columbine High School

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. "Eric and Dylan would not have ! been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by thos e students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for
legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech.
Please send this out to everyone you can.

Grr. I was sort of pissed off at the assumption that we are all poltically conservative. (Hey, no big fan of the NRA here, and I really don't need to hearthe allusions to how under-represented and oppressed Christians are.) Hi! Not everyone who is white and speaks English and was apparently born in this country is Christian.

So I shot back to the sender with:

Please don't forward me stuff like this. Thank you. The poem is trite and poorly written. People can indeed pray in schools, they just can't be forced to do so. Hmm, I wonder how Catholics would react if their children went to school where students were led in the Charge of the Goddess or some other religious tradition's prayer.

As a general rule, whenever someone suggests "forward this to everyone you can!", it's almost always a Bad Idea. Either there is some factual error (let's count the number of spam emails whizzing around the Intenet), or not everyone has the same belief system that oneself has

That's sort of why I think that forcing public prayer in schools is probably a bad idea. Even if one is a member of the majority religion, doesn't having people rolling their eyes or being totally disinterested in your faith just cheapen the whole experience? It just seems sort of needy and pathetic. Sure, if a bunch of students want to get together and celebrate either Jesus or the Goddess or Buddha, then great! But when everyone has to pretend that they are enthusiastic about a particular religion, it just gets ... sad.

Will someone explain to me how evicting people with children is pro-family? I think that there is something here I am not getting. I suppose that throwing people out on the street will turn them into Ozzie and Harriet. Who knew that the Taliban had re-settled in Missouri?

Town won't let unmarried parents live together

BLACK JACK, Missouri (AP) -- The City Council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.
Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.

The town's Planning and Zoning Commission proposed a change in the law, but the measure was rejected Tuesday by the City Council in a 5-3 vote.

"I'm just shocked," Shelltrack said. "I really thought this would all be over, and we could go on with our lives."

The current ordinance prohibits more than three people from living together unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption." The defeated measure would have changed the definition of a family to include unmarried couples with two or more children.

Mayor Norman McCourt declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that those who do not meet the town's definition of family could soon face eviction.

The only tough part was that there was no one for the Democratic committee person. There was a button for write in, and I thought that I had to put in a valid name, so I put in my own. I would be amused if I was elected because of a mistake about procedure. I was a Democratic committee person for a month or 2 back in 2002, and I didn't like it - it was too diffuse, too hazy. So that's about when we decided to start publishing the newsletter again. It seemed like a good excuse to get out of it.

Oh well, we'll see.

I am going there on Sunday and will do some geek stuff. It will be nice to just hang out.