A writer from the National Center for Science Education says my column on evolution –posted online last week, in the paper Wednesday, would win me a “reporter of the week” award if they gave one out.
(edited to correct when the article ran).

Mayor Barker: Apparently our code doesn’t cover any requirements for activities on the patio/deck. This could become a bigger issue in the future–we might need to change the code at some later point.
Dewey: Great restaurant, don’t want to force them out of business, still concerned about parking. “It would behoove us to put this off until they get their lease agreement done–that would give the restaurant time to scout around and find some parking they could hire, even though the code doesn’t require that.” Moves to table until the lease is worked out (attorney Jerry Miller says it’s a motion to continue, actually).
Chef Creehan: “We don’t see any reason that wouldn’t be signed, probably this week.” Deck is down to 85 seats, we’ve moved our office operations to another location, we’re doing our best to comply and make everything work. If the neighbors were really outraged, wouldn’t they be showing up to complain?
“We are just one small group of a lot of people doing services on the beach that use those parking spaces.”
4-3 to continue with Trammell, Wood and Seevers voting against, Destin, Weidenhamer, Windes and Bagby voting yes.

Libertarian blogger Dan Riehl on the liberal response to Wesley Snipes’ tax conviction: “In relative terms, there will be little or no liberal hand-wringing over the Snipes conviction, which causes one to wonder if they really understand freedom at all. Snipes appears to be guilty, but he WAS striking Big Brother at its heart in a way few if any anti-war protesters ever do …Issues like the above are why I genuinely question the motivations of liberals today. They claim to be championing liberty. Yet nearly everything they champion calls for more taxation and regulation. One can’t do both and be intellectually consistent, or honest.”

Possibly this is too complicated for Riehl to grasp, but Snipes wasn’t thrown in jail for leading a peaceful protest against income tax or trying to reform the tax system, he was thrown in jail for not paying it. Since I do think taxes should be paid (though like most people, including Riehl, I have strong opinions on who should be taxed, how they should be taxed, what should be taxed, etc.), I can’t say this shakes me to the core of my liberal soul.

In fairness, reading some of Riehl’s other posts about torture (which he seems to rank much less important in terms of liberty than tax evasion) and Islam, I suspect he’s of the right-wing persuasion that thinks “libertarian” makes him stand out.

Moving somewhat higher on the right-wing food chain, we have George Will on teachers: “After 1962, when New York City signed the nation’s first collective bargaining contract with teachers, teachers began changing from members of a respected profession into just another muscular faction fighting for more government money. Between 1975 and 1980 there were a thousand strikes involving a million teachers whose salaries rose as students’ scores on standardized tests declined.”

I know Will’s supposed to be very, very, very smart, but does have the slightest idea how crappy teacher pay used to be? So help me, every time in my memory that teachers have asked for better pay or benefits, the cry goes up “My god! If they want to be paid well, they can’t possibly care about the kids! They’re supposed to be in this for love, not money!”

Teachers are, apparently, wonderful noble beings until anyone asks they get paid what they deserve.

That’s it for me. I’ll post again May 5, unless I put something up while on vacation.

Not mine, the OWC-hosted production of the touring company.

I loved it. A great show with great talent, cool set and full of energy and life.

Not everyone agreed. A Destin resident wrote to the Daily News this morning that he “escaped at intermission as though we were fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah. This play was a disgrace not only in the eyes of God but in the eyes of all who profess faith in him.”

Well, I’m not the only person who believes in God and likes “Rent” so he’s a little off.

But he’s really off when he paints himself as an “unsuspecting attendee … if we had known the play’s content, we would surely have stayed away”—he optimistically predicts so many people would have stayed away, OWC would learn its lesson about offending him—and that he wants to make sure “future productions are reviewed and the public can be warned.”

In fairness, the big Daily News article in Showcase the Friday before didn’t divulge much of the storyline. On the other hand, “Rent” is a show well over 10 years old, multiply reviewed and it wouldn’t take much effort to find the details on the Internet before forking out $45 for a ticket.

I feel the same way about this I do about people who announce at Destin City Council meetings that stuff I’ve been writing about for months has been covered up and carried out without any information reaching the public.

From Cow and Boy

•Keith John Sampson, a student and janitor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis was seen reading a book called “Notre Dame vs. the Klan” — about Notre Dame University’s clash with the antiCatholic KKK — by a black coworker who complained to the school authorities that reading a book about the KKK was a form of racial harassment. Unfortunately, the university sided with the complainant, telling Sampson not to read the book at work again, though officials generously decided not to initiate any punishment.
I could understand the coworker jumping to conclusions and complaining about Sampson, but for the university to agree with the complaint? Unless some hidden dimension comes up to the story, that’s amazingly idiotic.
•Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern on homosexuality: “Studies show, no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted for more than, you know, a few decades. . .
I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”
What can one say except no, it isn’t? But bonus stupid points to Kern for identifying Islam, not just terrorism, as a threat to America.

“Jekyll and Hyde, the musical” is an entertaining show. I’m not a fan of the script (neither the songs nor the story really grab me) but the performance makes up for it: It has energy, looks great, and has some terrific voices, particularly Jekyll/Hyde and Lucy, the fallen woman who falls for Jekyll.

So if you have time this coming weekend, check it out.

A letter in yesterday’s Daily News asserts that the writer, Michael Rigs, objects to evolution because “evidence to the contrary is selectively discarded by scientists” to cover up that the theory doesn’t work.

This is followed up by several nonsensical statements sucha s “evolution requires a relatively steady environment.” No, evolution works just fine in times of chaos and disorder.

“All species must always be evolving to take advantage over incremental changes in the environment.” He goes on to cite the coelocanth, which has remained unchanged for many millions of years as proof that therefore, evolution doesn’t work.

Wrong again. Evolution isn’t some independent force making creatures adapt, it’s the result of natural selection operating on the differences between members of the species. If they live in a stable environment, it’s possible to stay unchanged for a long, long time.

And while I don’t know that Mr. Riggs is a creationist or intelligent design believer, no amount of disproving evolution—even if he could do it—would make those bogus theories scientifically valid. Despite the insistence of some creationists that if evolution is wrong, creationism must be right, science isn’t a football game: You have to have positive evidence to prove your case, not just disprove the other side.

So that I can concentrate on liveblogging from this point on.
Right now, we’ve reached that critical mass events get to, enough of a group that everyone’s making spontaneous conversations, catching up on events, introducing each other to spouses or kids, rehashing last night’s Caretta Dunes QJ, trading jokes …
The crowd is heavily slanted to city councilors, staffers, people who are active in local events and families. In front of me, a three year old is giving great thought to which chair to sit in—never mind, her father picked.

“Power, without control, appertains to God alone; and no man ought to be trusted with what no man is equal to.”—Cato’s letter

“The more time goes by, the more I think that our moral lives depend, to an enormous degree, on our ability to stop and think before crossing certain lines; to recognize that it is time to stop acting in whatever ways come naturally to us”—Hilary Bok

“Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole truth can be won.”—Col. Clayton Wheat

“(The Greeks) take us back to what we know is true: how immensely hard it is to make a great civilization out of the raw material we humans are.”—Charles Mee

“Despite the valor and skills of our fighting forces, some objectives are not obtainable at a human, diplomatic, and financial cost that is acceptable.—Bill Moyers