babbling incoherently

Listening to The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out, preparing for our first Emergent Cohort Meeting for central Florida, a few things are keeping me awake (besides the infused green and white tea), including;

1. Imagine this, Curt Schilling has publically denounced Rafeal Palmeiro's crediblity based upon his positive test for steroid use. Yes, the normally reserved Schilling has decided to share his deeply felt opinions on this subject with the world. Oh, thank you Curt Schilling for sharing with us.

2. Been enjoying my buddy Jon Stewart even more lately. His bit on the president's "assumption" that the Iraqi government would have a constitution by August 15 was a thing of beauty. It is titled Tome Delay and can be accessed from the index if my link does not work. It succinctly points out the ridiculous amount of false assumptions we have based this war on- including "Iraq has WMDs", "we will be treated as liberators," "there will be no insurgency," and "hummus does not go bad when left in the heat." Also quite good is Stephen Colbert's All the President's Menus, satirizing the Supreme Court nomination fight by showing the difficulty Bush has getting his new chef confirmed, based upon menus for previous administrations she will not release.

3. My friends are doing some excellent blogwork I would like to point out.
Craig offers up The Dynamic Nature of Human Belief, which I would ask anyone to read that
thinks deeply on our image of God, the Bible and belief itself. I think he would enjoy
comments, if commentors do not take to name-calling, holier-than-thou attitudes and discuss
the merits of the arguments. If you enjoy debate, don't go. If you enjoy discussion, do go. Just
remember, he is sensitive (and working through things publically) and probably much
smarter than you.

Gentry has a couple of excellent posts (has his writing kicked it up a notch lately?) for your
discussion. First of all, he was noticably bothered by a Rolling Stone article I gave him on cool
Christians in NYC that where their virginity like a badge. His posting gives a good synopsis. He
also has a collection of quite funny postings documenting the calls a Lifeway employee is taking
from frustrated consumers. Some quite funny Christian subculture satire included.
Link 1 on worldviews and atheists. Link 2 on homeschooling curriculum.
Link 3 Rickshaw. Link 4 Baptist Boycotts. There are many more where these came from.

It is a few weeks old, but Dan Kimball's stages of church going is excellent.

Thanks to Will Samson, I read about study linking Bush/ War supporters with SUV buying,
animosity towards gays and masculine overcompensation here.

4. Our prolife governor, Jeb "the smart one" Bush has made of career of standing up for people such as Terri Schaivo. However, a few years ago, he signed a bill that could be declared a "death tax for stupidity and vanity" otherwise known as the "No Helmet Law." Florida, whose transportation theme is "arrive alive" and has a gestapo-like reputation for seat belt laws, sees no contradiction in making sure each person wears a seat belt while allowing cyclists to drive with no helmet.

Since the law went into effect, the percentage increase in injuries to cyclists is 38%. The increase in fatalities of motorcyclists in Florida is 123%. The percentage increase nationally for cycling fatalities during the same time period is 48% (which includes a few stupid states like Florida). A few more stats for you: percentage of cyclists admitted to the hospital= 40% and percentage increase of hospitalized cyclists with head injuries = 82%. Also, the number of motorcycle registrations during the same time period in our state is 33.7%. I could continue with statistics, but have nothing else to say about this inane law.