Via Andrew Sullivan:

and via Phil Wilson:

Personally, I think this is great (video via Mark Elrod)...Harding U. students shaking their booties on stage with Robert Randolph & The Family Band, in violation of the school's ban on dancing. It's ridiculous to have concerts like this (funk/soul) on campus but then expect no one to dance. Reminds me of when James Lashlee and I danced on stage with Sonic Youth at the Cannery in Nashville in 1990. Lipscomb new nothing about it. It was our first mosh pit experience too. Also David Yow, lead singer for the opening band The Jesus Lizard, dropped trow on stage as was his custom.

From an article of the same title in USA Today by Emily Bazar:

At least a half-dozen states are considering broadening the death penalty, countering a national trend toward scaling back its use.

Lawmakers have proposed legislation that would increase the range of crimes eligible for execution. In Texas and Tennessee, for example, legislators want to include certain child molesters who did not murder their victims.

"The hope is that these monsters will see that Texas is serious about protecting children," says Rich Parsons, spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Dewhurst, a Republican, is working with state senators to draft legislation that would make repeat offenders subject to capital punishment in some cases. "If they understand they could face the ultimate punishment," they might "think twice," Parsons says.

Lawmakers or courts have temporarily halted all executions in 11 states in the past year, most of them over concerns that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, says Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, which he says takes no position on the death penalty but has been critical of how it is applied.

In my opinion, this is BAD news.

The other day I was creating the W2 forms for the folks employed by our church last year. One lady worked several weeks filling in as church secretary. I noticed that her wages for the year were exactly $666. I thought that was kinda funny.