Weird Connecticut This Week (Vol. 3)

Been too busy to post too much over the past week or so and it will be spotty for the next couple of weeks. Hey, it's summer - but just because I go on a slowdown doesn't mean that Connecticut will cease to be odd on my account.

Stories of occult activity in the dead of night are seldom reported on. So it was unusual to see on the news a story of a pig's head, found cooked, in a cemetery in Bethel. Complete with the veggies and a little wine.

Great places to live!

You already knew this, but Connecticut has lots of nice places to live. (Some expensive places, too!) So, few were very surprised to see a number of Connecticut towns hit Money magazine's list of the top 100 places to live in the USA.

Topping the list of Connecticut towns was Greenwich, at #12. (They must not have checked the gas prices!) Also on the Money list were Tolland (#29), Colchester (#57), New Milford (#67), and Guilford (#78). We also have three of the top five towns in highest median income (Darien, New Canaan, and Wilton). We'll take all these feathers in our cap, but please also pray for the many struggling communities in our State.

The allure of Scientology

Can't turn around without hearing about Scientology. This is one of several times I can recall across the decades when they have gotten a lot of buzz. This time it's because of Tom Cruise and other Hollywood devotees. Any pro-Scientology flare-up also draws out its many detractors, including this piece by Michael Crowley, an editor at the New Republic. Crowley brings out the details of founder L. Ron Hubbard's life, details which are usually glossed over by Scientologists or else completely unknown to them. These allegedly include black magic rituals designed to produce the Antichrist. (No, I'm not kidding.)

In any event, as you pray for the spread of the Gospel, please remember to pray about cultic groups, especially those which seem appealing when famous people promote them.

Rick Santorum on Courts on National Review Online

National Review has published a very important excerpt from Senator Rick Santorum's new book, It Takes A Family. Obviously the title is meant to stand in contradistinction to Senator Clinton's book, It Takes A Village.

Rick Santorum on Courts on National Review Online

Weird Connecticut This Week (Vol. 2)

This past week there were, as always, some unusual things happening in the Land of Steady Habits.

• One man allegedly mowed down some geese with his car. A police officer said, in words I could not have invented, "This here was a wanton act." No argument there.
  

• Hundreds of state workers in a office building on Sigourney Street in Hartford claim that mold is making them sick. Union officials are giving out protective gear. Video available if you follow that link. Big budget surpluses but mold everywhere...
  

• Health advocates and free speech advocates alike are happy that Dr. Mark Breiner, a dentist, will now be allowed by the State Department of Public Health to advise his patients about what he claims are the dangers of dental fillings which utilize mercury.
  

• And finally, as if we didn't have enough drugs, let it come as a sad revelation to you that it is popular in some circles to use animal tranquilizers to get high. A Pennsylvania man was arrested in our cute little state for allegedly possessing dozens of bags of ketamine, called "Special K" on the street.

Animal tranquilizers?

AAA Link fixed

Thanks to relolp who pointed out that the AA link was broken. It is a tricky link, if that makes sense. This I got from the AAA's site and it should work.

To read their press release about it, go here.

AAA Price Finder: a nice resource

With gas prices being what they are, we thought it might be helpful to make you aware of the AAA's fuel price finder. Let's pray for the continued health of the economy. I find it interesting that a number of prophetic voices have mentioned an upcoming discovery of additional resources or new resources that will reduce or even eliminate our dependence on imported energy. This is certainly something to pray for as well. But in the meantime, should God not bless us in this way, there is much we can do as good stewards. (End of sermon!)

Episcopalians React to Inhibition of Bristol Priest

Connecticut's Episcopal Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith, "inhibited" the Rev. Mark Hansen of St. John's Episcopal Church in Bristol over a dispute stemming from Bishop Smith's approval of the consecration of an openly homosexual man as a bishop. The inhibition has the effect of barring Rev. Hansen from performing the duties of a priest for six months. The Courant reports that locks have been changed and another priest, the Rev. Susan J. McCone, has been appointed to perform pastoral duties. Parishioners are also none-too-pleased and weighing their options.

Rep. Shays will face rematch from Diane Farrell

U. S. Rep. Christopher Shays will be facing a rematch from Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell. The Courant/AP has story here.

Just a reminder that it's never too early to pray for the upcoming 2006 elections. The news cycle being what it is, it always seems that we just finish an election and here it comes again. The demands of publicity, not to mention the financial demands of campaigns, compel candidates to get out there before we're really ready to go through it all again.

Intercessors for Connecticut, July 2005

The July edition of the Intercessors for Connecticut newsletter from Connecticut House of Prayer is now available at CHOP's InJesus site. There are several prayer points of note there, including Governor Rell's decision to OK stem cell research, and more on eminent domain.

More fallout from New London Supreme Court Case

Will Ridgefield now take some support from the recent Kelo v. New London case and take some land for development? That town is looking to put up 600,000 square feet of corporate office space. The developer-owner has been resisting Ridgefield's efforts in Federal court, but in light of the U. S. Supreme Court decision making it easier for towns to glomm your property, the battle may be over.

Meanwhile, New London officials received some death threats, proving that Americans still know how to overreact! Others came to New London itself from all over to protest and state legislators are buzzing about trying to avoid what a Florida legislator called a "Connecticut situation." Great! One more thing to be known for.

With that thought in mind, here's next year's license plate, just maybe. Don't sue me, the actual plate is onsale at EBay. (If you want, you can sue me for the bad photo edit!) On a more serious note, this is not what Thomas Jefferson envisioned. And, we are called the Constitution State for a reason. I'd prefer not to be known as the State that helped wreck it...

Weird Connecticut This Week

Maybe this will be a regular feature, maybe not, but there are oodles of weird news stories in our cute little State lately. Is there a full moon?

• A man was arrested in Litchfield for strolling around town naked - nine miles from home, no less! Although Blogger now has a new photo feature, I'm not using it yet. At least not in this post.

• And, it's Little League season again. That means, as always, beware of parents running amok.

• People are robbing banks because - 9/11 traumatized them!

You can't make this up.