So, you think American Christians are 'persecuted' because of religious beliefs?  This guy thinks you don't know the meaning of the word. (via Lex).  Lex goes on to assign a finer and very familiar point to the Slactivist post, which he found, and I copped.

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Common wisdom within the local political scene seemed to hold that little was going to change in the makeup of our City Council during the upcoming election.  Boy were they (we) wrong.

I ran into a City Council member today who told me of some shake-ups that were discussed among the members of council after last night's meeting.  These changes will lay common wisdom on its ear.

District 3 Councilman Robbie Perkins, who has held that seat since 1993, has decided not to run for another term.

My Councilwoman Claudette Burroughs-White, who has served District 2 since 1994, has apparently decided to not seek another term after all.  Burroughs-White has said she would like to step down if she could find a candidate she could endorse for the job.  My information is that four candidates have expressed a willingness to run in my district, hopefully one of them is Dr. Goldie Wells.

Most interestingly, Councilman Tom Phillips will not run for another at-large term.  Instead he will file to run for Perkins' vacated District 3 seat.  His blog makes no mention of his decision yet. (Ed note - now it does.)

The vacancy of Phillips' at-large seat will breathe some hope into Councilwoman Florence Gatten's announced at-large campaign.  She has stated she will not seek a third term in District 4 as promised, but will instead run for an at-large seat.  Before now, all indications were that there wasn't going to be an at-large vacancy, so her plans didn't make any sense to me.  Now they do.  She is probably considering herself to be the heir-apparent to the lone conservative at-large seat now held by Phillips.

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Update:  The Rhino Times and the N&R will carry this story in tomorrow's editions.

Update II: Tom Phillips provides reasoning for his decision: "My reasons are simple, with four current council members, as well as other possible candidates, running for three seats the At-Large race was going to be expensive and time consuming. With Robbie's departure I would prefer to run in my District and avoid the hassle."

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Cone and Sue are right - what an(other) embarrasment.  I can hear the multi-national board room discussions of relocating and expanding corporations reading this (now international) story and saying - "Yeah, man... that's where we need to be.  That Guilford County, NC has got it goin' on."

In the eyes of much of the world, and of many folks here in Guilford County as well, the Bible is not the 'Holy Scriptures', it is a 'Holy Scripture'.  The point of sworn testimony is the legitimacy and sincerity of the oath, Judge Albright,... not the volume upon which the left hand is resting when the oath is taken.

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If you are ever unfortunate enough to have to endure extended chemotherapy, you and your family may find a strange word to describe the treatments: routine.  How such a nightmarish procedure which, pre-diagnosis, was hardly ever mentioned in polite company, and then only in hushed voices, can become 'normal' part of a family's every day life is remarkable.  But that is what has happened around the Hoggard house.

Starting with the initial rounds of chemo back in November, our kids would know when Jinni was going in for treatment and everyone would give her a wide latitude with their maternal interaction a couple of days before and after her treatments.  They knew something was up.

Now, because they sleep in past the time when she is due at the Cancer Center every Thursday, they might wake up at the crack of 10, come down the stairs and call me on my cell to remind me of a parent's most important function - taxi driver. "Mom's not here and I need to go to the pool",  or, "I've got football practice in 10 minutes and Mom won't answer her cell."  My stock answer is, "It is Thursday.  She's at chemo."  "Oh... yeah", is the resigned response from the taxi-hailing child.  "Well, can you come and get me?", they ask... knowing full well I am probably up on a ladder in Virginia fixing windows.  "Sorry", I'll respond, "Get creative with the neighbors or take the bus, and next time put it on the calendar."

When they sometimes (rarely) complain that their mom is unavailable for something or other due to chemo appointments or the drug's malaise inducing side-effects, I have another stock answer for Jinni's temporary unavailability: "Well, It's better than the alternative."

That usually shuts them up and puts them back in a routine frame of mind.

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Tomorrow Jinni will have her sixth weekly infusion of Taxotere.  This will be a red-letter day because it will mark the half-way point of this phase of her treatments.  This will be followed by seven weeks of daily radiation.

She still has her hair (which has grown back in quite curly), but that seems to be falling out again which is a real pisser.  She was hoping it might stay this time.

The biggest problem with this drug is its effect on her tastebuds - they are dead - and she does not like that one bit.  Jinni says she can smell food's aroma and everything looks appetizing, but when she takes a bite - there is nothing there.  She, like her Dad, loves food.  With fresh vegetables coming in now, she is really missing the tastes of summer.

All in all, though, she is tolerating Taxotere very well.  A little nausea, a little sleeplessness, a little of this, a little of that.  You know... mostly routine stuff.

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