With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.

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The bill, if enacted, would treat suits to enforce the Establishment Clause different from litigation to enforce all of the other provisions of the Constitution and federal civil rights statutes.

Fortunately, various conservative personas are quick to assure us that there are no threats to our constitutional rights. People are not being arrested for political demonstration (not counting the nearly 2000 in NYC in 2004), the habeus corpus rights of the accused are still intact, and the government is not trying to erode the separation of church and state.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3592217964261572444

(Link via Google Video)

We needed someone saying these things 4 1/2 years ago.

The array of foods she's making includes a few dozen sugar cookies (from scratch, of course), which she's cut out into various shapes: hearts, flowers, stars, and of course crosses. Because these people are protestants (as was I, when I considered myself a person of faith), and for us protestants kitsch is as important a part of the daily diet as vitamins and minerals. A fifth food group, you might say. So she finishes the cookies and decided to turn in for the night. Realizes that they'll dry out in the "crisp" Colorado fall air (it's hella dry here once the temperatures start coming down). Dilemma: how to keep them from drying out without coming back downstairs? Solution: ask the housemate ("ME") to wrap things up:

So touchy...