I had an Op-Ed in our state paper this past week; thought I'd share and see if anyone has feedback. I persist in fighting the standards movement, but often feel powerless. The piece:

www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/498361.html

Also, I came across this over the weekend about American politics and religion by syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker; very interesting (disturbing?) and worth our consideration:

townhall.com/columnists/KathleenParker/2008/08/20/purpose-driven_politics

Paul Thomas

Shirley Steinberg’s

Christotainment Lecture

Monday (June 23) morning, I learned that the Universe lost George Carlin, I believe Sunday or Sunday evening. Carlin's heart finally lost the battle. On my drive to teach my summer courses, a 30-45 minute adventure on the highways each morning, I listened to local talk radio trash and demonize Carlin. The talk-show host and callers reveled in noting that Carlin was in hell—that his life-long pursuit of satire wasn't so funny for him now, they claimed.

Last Friday, while visiting my parents in New York, I made a quick stop at my favorite clothing store (Ann Taylor Loft) while I was waiting for my folks to get home from work. Luckily, ATL was having one of its fabulous sales, and I found a beautiful, turquoise, empire waist dress that fit me perfectly AND had been marked down from $79.99 to $29.99. What a find! I brought it up to the register, the sales woman rang it up, and to my wonderous surprise, the dress rang up at only $11.19—BONUS!

Hi, everybody! Thank you so much to the Project, to Joe and Shirley, and to the web geniuses (David and his team) who put this so terribly functional, helpful, and informative e-community together.