This is what you shall do...

" Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of the year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body...." -- Walt Whitman

Today's View: Rhododendron

I took this last week in the morning as it rained. Water plays on the green and the sky drops in some blue contrasted against the very bricky brick down below.

The absence of knowledge = God?

From today's Sunday's New York Times Magazine:

In Response to "Darwin's God" by Robin Marantz Henig, March 1, a reader wrote April 1 to say,

"God may be invoked because the explanatory power of science ultimately breaks down, leaving a vacuum that must be filled."

A very enlightened John Greenwald responded on April 15:

"But why should God be invoked in the face of the unknown? Is it not enough to say, "I don't know"? Imagining supernatural answers precludes the possibility of finding verifiable answers. This makes God and ignorance synonymous."

Rock on, John, rock on!

Today's View: French Lick Hotel

A few weeks ago I took a drive down to French Lick, Indiana. Back in 1845 a hotel was built there to entice visitors to the mineral springs. Over the years the hotel has had major ups and major downs. Recently refurbished, it's now pretty cool.

This is from the second story lobby.

I Could Fall In Love With You...

I Could Fall In Love With You (Video) by Erasure



One of my favorite duos, Erasure, has a new song and video out.

To the Editor:

The Indiana House of Representatives' Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee voted April 3 and defeated Senate Joint Resolution 7 (SJR-7), an attempt to enshrine discrimination into the State Constitution.

If ratified, SJR-7 would have meant the loss of domestic partner benefits, a loss of protections for victims of domestic violence, and a loss of child and elder care rights for thousands of Hoosiers. It would have also seriously affected Hoosier families by damaging the State's economy. Likewise, it would have crippled corporate recruitment efforts and would have accelerated the already problematic Indiana "brain drain."

Thanks go out to the thousands and thousands of fellow Hoosiers who stood up for equality under the law. Thanks too, to the numerous organizations and companies who voiced their opposition to SJR-7. They include the IU Faculty Council and major employers, such as Emmis Communications, Cummins, Dow AgroScience, WellPoint, and Eli Lilly and Company. And of course, thanks go out to the brave Committee members who stood for liberty and equality by defeating SJR-7.

Thank you for doing the right thing!

M - I - N - I - M - A - L

white on white
light, sublime, subliminal
the void is clean
a cell but not for a criminal
light and shade
time and space

draw a line
more is less is minimal
form, earth, life
decide something less decisional

light and shade
time and space

an empty box
an open space
a single thought
leaves a trace
an empty box
an open space
a single thought
leaves a trace

light and shade
time and space