• Kudos to Covenant House, the YWCA, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, a Flash Mob and others who rose up to say that West Virginia is a place of tolerance, not hate.
• Kudos to West Virginia media for questioning whether we want companies that consider death a “cost of doing business” in our communities.

It is great to see the best thing about Duval High School make the transition to the consolidated Lincoln County HIgh School.

If you’re one of those people who has threatened serious harm to Punxsutawney Phil if he sees his shadow this year, my recommendation is that you deliver $20 and 10 canned food items to Covenant House in advance of the event – and stay warm.  For the rest of you, I’ll see you at the Ice Bowl.

At the State Capitol, we will read the most amazing part of the U.S. Constitution – a part not in the original, but quickly added by a wise citizenry – The Bill of Rights.  Democracy is premised on the notion of majority rule; the Bill of Rights seeks to ensure that the majority’s rule is not tyrannical – that the minority have certain rights that cannot be trampled upon by a rabble-rousing majority: the right to go to the church or synagogue or mosque of your choosing, the right to scream from the rooftops that the majority’s rule is corrupt, the right to a home generally free of government intrusion, protection against lynch mob justice and cruel and unusual punishment.

In the Bible, Christ says: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.”  That’s what the Bill of Rights is all about – how we treat the least of these – our brothers and sisters with whom we may not always agree.

Take a few minutes and read the Bill of Rights.

Two weeks ago Inside Higher Ed reported on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation for the Blind and the American Council of the Blind against Arizona State University for implementing a pilot program that will use Amazon’s new Kindle e-reader to distribute books to students.  Why the lawsuit?  While the Kindle can translate digital books into audio, “users can access the feature only through on-screen menus that are not accessible to the blind.” (Emphasis in original.)

The article intrigued me because West Virginia has a chapter of a little-known organization, Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), which takes textbooks and converts them into audio form with the help of volunteer readers.  The audio texts are then made available to blind and dyslexic individuals.

I encourage each of you to learn more about RFB&D and consider attending the local chapter’s Black, White and Read All Over Ball at Huntington’s Big Sandy Superstore Arena on 25 September 2009.