Respondez s'il vous plaid. (Honk if you're Scottish.)

(street view)

Interesting factoids:

1. Before it was a VW model, Toureg was (is) a nomadic tribal group from North Africa. They fought in the pro-Gaddafi forces and are now causing trouble as that country tries to establish a new government. They're also known as Berbers, which is an optional carpet choice in Touregs.
2. Those big "bullet" bumpers on a '54 Caddy (and other cars from that era) are called "Dagmars" after a popular and well-endowed actress of the era.
3. In Greece gasoline is currently $10 a gallon.

A North Phoenix resident found a newborn in her front yard yesterday, with the placenta and umbilical cord still attached. The baby girl is doing fine, though had she been there much longer medical experts say things would not have turned out as well. 

It's a top news story here, getting lots of coverage in print and broadcast media. I think about the mom, who must be watching the coverage, including footage of her baby at the hospital. She must be hurting something fierce.

Arizona has a "safe haven" law that allows mothers to drop off babies at specific sites - fire stations, hospitals, and the like - with legal impunity. So one of the questions is why this mother left her baby wrapped in a blanket and laying on a lawn. Panic? Immaturity? Ignorance?

Up until recently two of the Presidential candidates were Mormons, and two still in the race are Roman Catholics. And this in the Republican Party, not known for bold forward thinking. 

I'm old enough to remember when a large segment of our country questioned whether we could or should have a Catholic President - John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. 

Did Rick Santorum, a Catholic, get any bounce from the President's order re. providing contraceptives?

Today is my daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Aubri! Love you. 

Yesterday's CA Court of Appeals verdict re. Prop 8 was:

• not surprising. Anyone paying attention could see this coming sooner or later. The decision was very narrow, affecting only CA and its unique recent history re. gay marriage, but it's an indicator of what lies ahead. Similar decisions will follow in the not distant future and gay marriage will eventually be legal in all 50. The President overturned DOMA by executive order and Congress hasn't put together any meaningful resistance.
• indicative. In every state where gay marriage has appeared on a ballot the voters have said no, including CA, with a city that boasts the highest per capita number of gays in the country. I'm not sure what to do when the citizens repeatedly and clearly say one thing and the courts rule the opposite. The citizens get it wrong (blue laws, literacy tests) and if their will doesn't stack up against the constitution the job of the courts is to stand in their way. But the courts aren't infallible, either (Dred Scott decision) and lately have shown a tendency to "legislate from the bench." I think I think that unless there's a clear Constitutional directive, unless it's very clear the founding fathers would have come down on one side or another, the will of the people should prevail and the courts should stay out of it. But they're not going to, in this or several other issues facing our society. The courts may not be infallible but they are nearly omnipotent in a situation like this. 
• complicating. The logic behind the gay marriage movement is that two consenting adults should be allowed the same rights as everyone else without regard for their sexual orientation. Three days ago a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit against the State of Utah brought by the family made famous by the TV show "Sister Wives" could continue, despite an effort by the Utah governor and Attorney General to get it thrown out. If I were a lawyer representing that "family" I'd be thrilled with the CA decision. How do you argue against polygamy when it also involves only consenting adults? How do you say "marriage" can include same sex couples but not heterosexual 4-somes? The camel's nose...
• sad. I believe the Bible is God's Word, infallible and authoritative. Accordingly, I accept the Genesis record as historical and reflective of God's design. I reject the exegetical smoke and mirrors that makes central passages on homosexuality say something other than they clearly do - that homosexual behavior is morally wrong. (Note the important distinction between orientation and behavior.) Accordingly, I see this movement toward the de jure acceptance of gay marriage as a significant step in the continuing moral decline of American society.
• congruent. We are not a Christian nation, as the Bible defines that term. I don't know if we ever were. I suspect at most we were a religious nation, something very different. Anyone who knows the Bible understands that any significant and continuing conformity to God's moral will comes not from external rules and regs - or laws - but from a renewal that starts on the inside and works its way out. If the majority of a society haven't experienced that renewal it's unrealistic to expect them to conform to biblical moral standards. Which is why the NT doesn't speak to society, just to those who call him Lord.

So, the sky isn't falling. The U.S. isn't what it was but it also isn't what it will be. Our societal mores will continue to deviate further and further from the biblical standards that formed the tacit underpinnings of the better part of our first two centuries. Truth is, our country is just living out its reality. They've decided in true post-modern fashion (pun intended) that there are no fixed rules. Each man is a law unto himself in key moral matters. (Does that phrase ring any bells?) So I won't panic or tilt against the windmills. 

But I also won't succumb, or accept societal standards as my own.

A man stood on a box in the village square and every day, from morning 'til night, preached against the moral evils of the residents. It had no effect, the people ignored him.

A visitor, observing that the people paid him no notice, walking right by as though he weren't even there, asked the preacher why he continued. 

"Why do you preach when you clearly aren't changing them?"

He answered, "I preach so they won't change me."