Society

With Black History Month just passed, we're probably all sick of hearing about slavery and the civil rights movement. But a woodworking blog that I sometimes read had a very different perspective on the matter.

Today was a big beer day. First, Jeff Lawton, Karl Schultler and I brewed up ten gallons of oatmeal stout, to replace the five gallons I dropped on out last brew day. This is the very first time we've pulled out a full ten gallons. Now, the downside is that I don't think this beer is as strong as it should be. The initial gravity of 1.032 is way under what you normally get in an oatmeal stout. The flavor seems like it will be good, but the beer will be too light, and I don't think we can justifiably call it a stout.

This news article prompted it: http://www.news4jax.com/news/14193259/detail.html

Now mind you, as an allergy sufferer, I understand that it's something that got dumped on you and there's nothing that can be done about it. But as a peanut lover, and especially a lover of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this absolutely stinks. I think in the case of extreme food allergies, the many shouldn't need to sacrifice for the few. In this case, one kid with a peanut allergy has forced all students at the school to give up peanut products.

This isn't an ideal solution that covers everybody, but it's a good start. Instead of the current system where real health care coverage is only available as part of a group plan, a state wishing to promote business could become the defacto group provider. Anybody in the state, from the self employed to the giant factory owners to retirees, can buy in to the plan. People on public assistance are automatically enrolled and the premiums are part of their public assistance payment.

I ran into this while surfing at CNN today: http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1326 Now, as a Christian, I'm obviously not in agreement with what Cathy Griffin is supposed to have said. But it seems to me that about the last thing that Christianity needs is the kind of militant cheerleader we have in Bill Donohue. Last I checked, Christians were a majority group in this country.

I read this: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/24/left.to.die.ap/index.html and couldn't help but think that some people are expecting the government to do way too much for them. I mean yes, it's terrible that children have died because they were left in hot cars. But I'm not sure that an alarm is going to help them.

My wife had things to do on Saturday night. That left me to my own devices, something which is just bound to lead to trouble. Such as this: The Least of my Brothers