The Senate gave the PATRIOT act 6 more months with additional provisions, led by none other than Bill Frist. If he gets elected in three years, I’d be more worried for the nation than with Bush. Anyway, the House is meeting in an hour to vote to approve the changes, but hopefully they disapprove, for the sake of personal liberties.

UPDATE (4:37 PM EST): House decided it should only be extended for 5 weeks. Issue goes back to the Senate. Also, Rep. James Sensenbrenner is as scary as Frist. Thankfully, I have no fears of him ever being elected president.

In PA, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones ruled that teaching intelligent design in school is unconstitutional. From the article, “A six-week trial over the issue yielded ‘overwhelming evidence’ establishing that intelligent design ‘is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory,’ said Jones, a Republican and a churchgoer appointed to the federal bench three years ago.”

In Ministry of Love news, the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” Act of 2001 (U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act)’s renewal has been blocked Senate. If a compromise is not reached by the end of the year, it’s over.

Close to 3,000 Runners Compete in the OUC Half Marathon & 5k today in Orlando. My Rachel was one of those half-marathoners! She did really well, and I was very impressed. It’s no easy task, as a half-marathon is 13.1 miles [21.1 kilometers]. She’s training for a full-marathon sometime next year. I’m so proud! Pictures are here, and video is below.

Click on the picture to play the video of the start of the race
or Click here to download [.mov, 3.2 MB, 2′09]
Note: Quicktime Required