Damn HJR2 and Damn My Scruples!

A few days ago, I received an invitation from Amanda Feely (call her Mandi!) to enter the Mrs. Idaho America beauty pageant. The rules are simple: fill out and sign the application form, send them a photograph and fifty bucks, and find myself a couple of suckers . . . I mean sponsors. Then, I might, just might, qualify as an entrant. What's the hold up? Well first, although I've been happily married for 14 years, I am not legally married. Under current Idaho law, same-sex couples cannot wed. Second, entrants are required to have been born female. As far as I know, I was born female, but without a genetic test, who can say? Not you, not me, and not the damned fools running this beauty contest. [more]

Debating Torture

If, as President George W. Bush says, we're involved in a multi-year battle against Islamo-fascism, we've already lost. Mr. Bush has admitted that we, the American people, have been operating secret CIA prisons around the world. He's admitted that we've sent prisoners to third world countries for extraordinary rendition. He says that we have the right to hold suspected terrorists in extra-judicial locations and prisons, and that we can and should torture them using techniques like water-boarding. Who the hell is this man, and what has he done with the United States? [more]

Locally Grown

As America’s conscience slowly shifts toward concepts of sustainable agriculture, farmers’ markets are reestablishing themselves in Oregon communities large and small. The Sierra Club’s recent film and lecture series “The True Cost of Food”has been a motivating force nationwide in raising awareness of the hidden costs of massed-produced food and the import/export food industry.  

"True Cost of Food" played a year ago August in Hood River. Part of the diverse group that had gathered were several Columbia Gorge agriculturists who took the message to heart and then took things into their own hands. During the discussion that followed the film, attendees were inspired to create a local organization that would pool resources and, hopefully, make a difference. Gorge Grown Food Network was born on the spot. ...
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The End of Summer on the Palouse

The tail end of summer, from harvest to the first hard frost, is a bitter and miserable time on the Palouse. There is something about harvest that inevitably disappoints. First there's the dust, then the field fires, and, at last, the ugly, bare, cut brown fields. I love the rolling green acres of spring and the golden promise of late July and early August, but it all leads to this, choking smoke and blowing dirt. Not even the odd dust devil can pick up my spirits. I know that when the fall rains begin, my home will float in a sea of mud. My children, my dogs, and my carpets will be filthy. Is this any way to live? [more]

A New Use for the Potato

It's been a hard month for the Apple products in my home. First, I fried my iPod to the i-tune of $140 worth of new video card. Then, on Monday, I fell down the back steps, busting my ass and my Apple iBook. Both dropped from a height of four feet and landed on solid concrete. One has a big bruise; the other loose keys, a dysfunctional mouse pad, and a wonky screen.

My ass hurts. My Apple is in the repair shop. Guess which I care about more? [more]

The mindful life with Waylon H. Lewis

Man sees woman, man awkwardly approaches woman, woman gives number, man calls nervously, man/woman go for walk, man/woman go for drink, man/woman go dutch (these days) on dindin, man/woman go on two more dates (that’s the law) and spend a warm, raw, love-filled night together. Man/woman fall in love, get married, have children.

And that’s how the human races perpetuates this tragicomedy known as this precious human birth.

What’s the root of all this? It’s that tender love. And you don’t have to be a man/woman to share it. You can be a mom/baby, a dad/grandma, a boy/dog, a poet/moon. Love makes the world go around—and, like taste, you can’t legislate it. [more]

It'll be just like the movie "Shane," only Biblical.

On Tuesday, July 11th, at 7:30 PM, controversial Christian Reformed Pastor Doug Wilson will participate in a moderated discussion on Radio Free Moscow with Steve McGehee and Keely Emerine Mix. Wilson is the author of Future Men, Southern Slavery As It Was, and numerous other books. McGehee has a PhD in Philosophy and was, at one time, a Catholic seminary student. Emerine Mix is an experienced journalist, a noted Biblical feminist, a former Moscow School Board member, and a devout evangelical Christian. She is fluent in Spanish and ministered for many years to migrant workers in Central Washington. The discussion will be broadcast in Moscow on KRFP, 92.5 FM, and available to listeners outside the area via podcast.

The fireworks may only be rhetorical, but I have every reason to believe that they will light up the Moscow sky better than a bottle rocket from Lapwai. Unless, of course, I win my bet and, at the last minute, Mr. Wilson backs out. My prediction? Come 7PM, he'll be called away to officiate at the emergency funeral of someone's pet paraclete.

An Exercise in Local Awareness

What do we know about our homes? Not our houses, not our jobs, but about the environment around us, and about how our small space fits into the larger global matrix. On his blog, Help Wanted, Kevin Kelly asks a series of questions designed to test and challenge our awareness of space. If you score over 25, Kelly would like to hear from you. If, like me, you score in the single digits, perhaps it's time to think about turning off the television and getting out into the fresh air. [more]

DUH SYNDROME

Apparently when it comes to the disabled, Utah’s state government doesn’t have a square to spare. Despite ending this fiscal year some $300 million dollars in the black, the state plans to make devastating cuts in services and cash assistance to Utah’s disabled.

After an already demoralizing blow in federal cuts, the state is proposing to reduce the two-year time limit for cash assistance to Utahns with both long and short-term disabilities down to one year. This will, in effect, slash aid and benefits for close to 600 disabled and unemployed Utahns, which, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, amounts to “more than a third of the state’s 1,733-person caseload.” [more]

The Mindful Life with Waylon H. Lewis

I publish a little magazine, called 'elephant.' We've been around for 4 plus years, now, we print 35K eco-copies of each issue, we're available in five states in the Rockies, and we're just starting to go national. We focus on 'the mindful life' -- living a good life that also happens to be good for others (most folks just do one or the other--witness my mom, a poorly-paid teacher, who is all about others but lives in a one-bedroom, unheated apartment -- or your average hedge fund manager with requisite 10,000 square foot mansion in Greenwich with indoor squash court, underground parking garage and beachfront access). [more]