Suggested Reading -- 8/10/07

I'm going to add an occasional, recurring post titled, "Suggested reading." Basically, it'll just be short blurbs about news stories I come across, but don't have time to write about. Like "The Stuff I Didn't Get To," it may be an every weekday thing, but I'm not sure yet. Call it a notional experiment.

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Dallas News: Church won't hold funeral for gay man
From the story: "... The event placed High Point Church [of Arlington, TX] in the cross hairs of an issue many conservative Christian organizations are discussing: how to take a hard-line theological position on homosexuality while showing compassion toward gay people and their families." When 'compassion' and 'belief' can't be reconciled, then the 'belief' is hate. (h/t to thomastallsis at Christianity General)

ACLU Newsroom: ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger Wearing Arabic T-Shirt
From the story: "The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official and JetBlue Airways illegally discriminated against an American resident based solely on the Arabic message on his t-shirt and his ethnicity." The message on the t-shirt? "We Will Not Be Silent," in arabic and english.

Reuters: Americans may cast first votes for 2008 this year
From the story: "Americans may cast some of the first votes in the 2008 presidential election later this year after South Carolina on Thursday moved up its voting calendar to compete with traditional first states Iowa and New Hampshire." Are earlier primaries good for democracy or just an exercise in one-upsmanship?

Think Progress: 'War Czar': Military Draft is on the table
From the story: "In an interview with NPR, the White House's 'war czar' Gen. Doug Lute said that 'it makes sense to certainly consider' a military draft. 'I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another.'" Add to this a recent NPR interview of Gen. David Petraeus, where he agrees that "...it will be near impossible to maintain the current troop levels in Iraq because of the strain of multiple deployments..." and we have some worriesome messages sneaking out.