Follow-up: It's a girl

FALLS CITY, Neb., Aug. 29 - On Sunday evening, Matthew Koso tipped three ounces of formula into his 5-day-old daughter's mouth, then hoisted her atop his shoulder in hope of a burp. On Tuesday morning, he is scheduled to be arraigned on charges for which the newborn is the state's prime piece of evidence.

Mr. Koso is 22. The baby's mother, Crystal, is 14. He is charged with statutory rape, even though they were wed with their parents' blessing in May, crossing into Kansas because their own state prohibits marriages of people under 17.

The Nebraska attorney general accuses Mr. Koso of being a pedophile; they say it is true love.

If nothing else, these people really need to reevaluate their criteria for naming a child. I'd bring 'em up on charges for that, alone.

In harm's way, as usual

So I called the farm yesterday, trying to (a) track down Dad, as his birthday is coming up (suffice it to say it's a big, round number) and (b) see if there's been any word from our relatives in the bayou, as little things like "mandatory evacuation order" tend to bounce off our genetically-hardened skulls.

Well, surprise surprise, the birthday boy is in fact not on the farm, nor anywhere close. He's in Alabama. Do not ask me why. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's down there on work and that his proximity to yet another cataclysm is just another coincidence and neither the Hand of Fate nor some lemming-like magnetic pull toward chaos.

Anyhow, hippo birdie to him, and speaking of birdies, ( a baby peacock picture. )

Some antics with semantics

From MetaFilter: the distinction between people who "loot" and people who "find" -- is it simply black and white? (Edit: okay, I feel better -- the AP pics call it "looting," AFP has apparently changed "borrowed" to "finding," leaving the awkwardness of the phrase "finding ... from" in its cutline.)

Yuss!

Televangelist and self-proclaimed Biblical prophecy expert Jack Van Impe denounced Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, comparing Robertson to Osama bin Laden.

"...Not only that, but Mr. Robertson, you are pro-life, and yet you wanted the members of the Supreme Court to die last year, and now the president of Venezuela. We believe this book: Thou shalt not kill; Exodus 20, verse 13. And my Bible says that this is wrong, and I want to challenge you right now to change your ways. Because we as Christians do not need an Osami [sic] Bin Laden leading us."

This is what I've been waiting for -- Robertson to get called out on the obvious hypocricy of his stance, and there's been far too much silence on the matter. Awesome. (Ganked from dragonscholar.)

In other news, I got OS X 10.3 running at home. W00t!

Update

Dad got home last night, took off again this morning, shuttling portable cell phone towers to Alabama. It appears there's an increased demand for them right about now, for some reason.

Maybe it's related to this: Levee breaks, sandbags and pumps fail: nine feet of water expected in the entire east bank in 12-15 hours. Rewritten to remove caps: you can forgive the website for breaking out all-caps and red text this once, I think. Also from the site: Residents will probably be allowed back in town in a week, with identification only, but only to get essentials and clothing. You will then be asked to leave and not come back for one month. Whoa.

Also, even if you're a deputy at a prison, do you think maybe that the safest place to take your family might not be the prison? Jesus. This ain't gonna be pretty.