News-Record.com

Should we even care if a convicted murderer has to go through pain -- probably like his victim?

I certainly wouldn't award the family anything.

The furor over sororities and fraternities and Christianity. Is being a member of a sorority or fraternity 'idol' worship?

Christopher Tweel lives in Greensboro:

It seems like in the past few years there have been a lot of, well, let's say disgruntled people, in our country. There has been the staunch divisions seen and revisited a hundred times. The feelings of unity that the country might have shared at one time seems shattered, and now as the National Holiday approaches I hear whisperings that we don’t have much to celebrate this year.

In places all over the country we hear either the hard-liners, who believe whatever the government says patriotism, and the depressing embarrassment of those who might claim to be Canadian when traveling abroad.

More than a hundred years ago there was written a song that has the power still to bring a tear to those patriots who will really sit and listen to it."America the Beautiful" was written by Katherine Bates and in 1895 first published by The Congregationalist. Following 9-11 Dan Rather quoted the last verse of the song and nearly burst into tears on air.

If you don't recognize the Pope....
Then there's the debate over Mormonism.

Over a last name? I doubt if that would happen here.

The influence of faith on the American political system: You decide.

Nancy McLaughlin is on vacation, but keep checking for blog updates.

I know this is a desperate plea from someone who doesn't want to go behind bars, but should we start making these exceptions? The good of this: much-needed help for the poor. The bad of it, I guess, is that we make an exception for the educated or talented (football camps conducted by an extremely talented double-murderer)?

The future of organized religion?

Do these things really matter? We all have our personal views of right and wrong and morality.

Remember Jerry Weast, the first superindentent of the Guilford County Schools district? His Maryland school district may become a model for sex education lessons that some will applaud and others will undoubtedly hate. In short, it "explores the range of sexual orientations and gender identities, defines harassment and discrimination and teaches tolerance regardless of sexual orientation."

Nancy asked if I could fill in with some blog postings while she's out of the office. She can be so demanding. Of course I kid Nancy. Always glad to help a co-worker in need.

Something we're following:

A local activist group is expected to ask the High Point City Council tonight to start its meetings with a prayer in Jesus' name instead of the nonsectarian prayer the panel has been using since November at the request of the state ACLU.

We'll have a story about it tomorrow.

Things got pretty heated in High Point yesterday regarding the issue of prayers before City Council meetings.

Nearly 200 people packed council chambers regarding a resolution mandating nonsectarian prayer.

Joseph Rodriguez/News & Record

In the new TNT series "Saving Grace," a detective named Grace Hanadarko (played by Holly Hunter) lives hard and hits bottom one night when she slams into a pedestrian while she is driving drunk. Grace is far from the only person to have a life-changing experience. What's yours or the best you've heard?

It's Mike again, filling in for Nancy while she's gone (she'll be back Thursday).

Whether Tammy Faye Messner's death warranted a separate editorial is discussed at the new Your Voice at the Table blog.

Doug Clark writes: "Interesting as that story was, the four of us attending today's meeting -- Allen Johnson, Ken Irons, Keith Monroe and your reporter -- didn't think T.F.'s death warrants a separate editorial. Were we right or wrong?"

Tammy Faye Messner during a taping of "Larry King Live"
on Thursday. (The Associated Press)

CNN leads a story on last night's presidential debate this way:

"Tired of being seen by religious voters as too secular or even hostile toward religion, the Democratic Party and its presidential candidates have launched an all-out effort to win their votes."

The CNN story also cited a Pew Forum poll taken just before the 2006 midterm elections.

According to that poll, "The Democratic Party continues to face a serious 'God problem,' with just 26% saying the party is friendly to religion. However, the proportion of Americans who say the Republican Party is friendly to religion, while much larger, has fallen from 55% to 47% in the past year, with a particularly sharp decline coming among white evangelical Protestants (14 percentage points)."

So do the Democrats have a serious problem courting religious voters or has the issue been overblown? And are Republicans really faring any better?

Democratic presidential hopefuls at last night's debate.
Charles Dharapak/The Associated Press

I spent much of my vacation in bed, sick. Channel surfing discovered a theme on religious television: there are QVC-like mainstream religious programming devoted to miracle vitamins-- a three-month supply for $90. Read the good book and take a pill, I guess.

I think I saw Lindsay Lohan even in my hallucinations. To that, I want to say: Mama, thanks for all the times you said no. You could not watch yet another cable television new show dissecting her life without feeling sorry for her upbringing, with mom apparently wanting to be more like the partying sister and dad in and out of jail. What a combination. The best thing about what Britney (a mom herself) and Lindsay and Paris are going through is that they provide current, real-life material for every parent trying to be a parent, and not a best friend.

Some of the saddest I came across: "Maury" television, where producers can always find a young woman who needs a DNA test to determine her baby's daddy, and with cameras rolling, she and the rest of us find out from the "test results" that neither of the two men on the stage, who she swears were the only ones, are ruled out by DNA. I sat and watched a whole show of women needing paternity tests. The women and men cursed each other so badly, that I was hoping the paternity tests showed that the child didn't belong to the mother, either.

Dogfighting? Maybe the humans should be put in those contraptions.

And, how did pornography become cute and "acceptable?" There's this reality show with Playboy magazine icon Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends. They all live together -- and one of them wants to have a baby for the 80-ish Hefner. They don't bare everything on the show -- from what I've seen -- but the show makes their lifestyle and the women acceptable. I guess it shouldn't be surprising: Even Black Entertainment Television, once chock full of shows to feed the brain, has a glut of artist videos resembling soft porn.

OK, it was just good to get that off my chest.

There's not a lot of middle ground with embryonic stem cell research. Look at how a research bill passes a major committee -- only when funding is cut.

Just wondering: if employees can be exempt from working on their Sabbath, why can't they request other accommodations associated with their religion?

I heard a child's question on the radio recently: Who made God?
If there is a God, would he be worried about those who would challenge/question his existence?

Remember how doctors were begging the federal government for medical supplies? Some people say if there had been mercy killings under these circumstances, they would never be able to convict a doctor or nurse from reacting in that way.
Here's Anna Pou's nightmare after being accused.

The fight between Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, and Moses Cone Health System has offered interesting insight and struck a nerve. Lot's of you are calling it gluttony.

"I am furious after reading it and I just want to know how we, the BCBSNC Subscribers and Guilford County residents, can make these multimillion dollar companies stop using their customers as pawns in a high stakes, life or death issue????
First, both of these organizations are forgetting who is exactly paying ALL their bills." A.M.

"Moses Cone is trying to hold Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Hostage! It is common knowledge that hospitals nationwide struggle daily to fund their operations due to the huge influx of patients that are treated that do not subscribe to health care insurance. Why, in a
democratic nation like the U.S . should a free enterprise like a hospital "give away" it's services to the uninsured and then bill those who are insured more to cover the cost? If I were to go into McDonald's without any money to buy a meal they would not serve me anyway and then
bill the next customer twice!" B.W.

A friend passed this along.It's written by J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine. I've not heard of such celebrity treatment (see below). I wonder if this is more isolated than the author suggests:

"One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to see if a prominent preacher could speak at her conference. The minister’s assistant faxed back a list of requirements that had to be met in order to book a speaking engagement. The demands included:

* a five-figure honorarium
* a $10,000 gasoline deposit for the private plane
* a manicurist and hairstylist for the speaker
* a suite in a five-star hotel
* a luxury car from the airport to the hotel (2004 model or newer)
* room-temperature Perrier

City of God: Monaghan has said his goal is to help as many people as possible get to Heaven. And he hopes these homeowners will have a head start.

"I expected that we'd get some criticism, but I thought it would be coming from people who were not Christian or not religious at all. Many of the complaints we got were from people who were Christian and didn't like the idea," Sanders said..