Oh and one more thing before I slumber…

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you the 2006 American League Western Division Champions: the Oakland Athletics!

The key findings of the April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate, ““Trends in Global Terrorism:
Implications for the United States”” that President Bush ordered declassified can be found here (link opens a PDF). I plan on reading it tomorrow and recommend that others read it as well. Have a good night.

Dan Kimball wrote an extremely popular—and accurate, I might add—post in August of last year on expectations and dissatisfactions with churches, and I think it’s worth remembering. I’m sure you’ve already seen it, but if you haven’t or if you haven’t in a while, go and check out “Reality Church?”

Today’s Los Angeles Times reports, “Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Fuels Terror: The conflict spreads extremism and serves as a laboratory for deadly tactics, says a bleak analysis by 16 U.S. intelligence units.”

(I imagine there will be a few op-eds on this story in the next week.)

UPDATE: Here’s a counterpoint via Drudge and My Way News: “White House: Account of Iraq Report Incomplete.”

The Los Angeles Times reports, “King/Drew Fails Final U.S. Test.”

Federal regulators notified Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center late Friday that it had failed what was billed as a “make or break” inspection and would lose annual funding of about $200 million — more than half the hospital’s budget — at the end of the year.

The move is likely to force Los Angeles County to close the long-troubled public hospital, give it to someone else to run or turn it into a clinic, as officials have repeatedly acknowledged.

During a lengthy meeting, federal inspectors told King/Drew officials that the hospital still did not meet minimum patient-care standards.

King/Drew has been out of compliance with federal guidelines since January 2004, when it was first cited for serious lapses in care that had injured and killed patients.

During the latest inspection, the hospital failed nine of the government’s 23 conditions for federal funding, according to a letter from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that was hand-delivered Friday to King/Drew’s administrator.

Federal regulators identified problems in nursing, pharmacy, infection control, surgical services, rehabilitation services, quality control, patients’ rights and the hospital’s governing body and physical plant.

In fact, inspectors found more problems in the supposedly reformed King/Drew than they had at any time in the last three years. Some of the life-threatening lapses cited were nearly identical to those found in the past.

For instance, the letter said, “there were no appropriately trained and competent staff, on the 3E unit, assigned to watch the heart monitors of seriously ill patients who required cardiorespiratory monitoring. This is especially troublesome, because previously documented cases showed that patients died when nurses at King/Drew failed to heed heart monitor warnings.”

For those who don’t know, King/Drew has been in trouble for years now (The Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize for their series “The Troubles at King/Drew” a couple of years ago.) Today’s article gives a good summation of its prominence in the community:

The 252-bed hospital south of Watts is one of the few sources of acute healthcare for the uninsured in South Los Angeles, most of them African American or Latino. King/Drew has enormous symbolic value as well: It was created to remedy racial inequities in healthcare after the 1965 Watts riots and has long been a source of pride — and jobs — in the community.

After beating the Angels last night in the 12th inning, the magic number for the Oakland A’s to win the American League Western Division title now stands at:

2

Oakland A’s magic number to win the American League West:

6

The Times Online recently ran the following story: “Hinduism No Barrier to Job as Priest in Church of England.”

A priest with the Church of England who converted to Hinduism has been allowed to continue to officiate as a cleric.

The Rev David Hart’s diocese renewed his licence this summer even though he had moved to India, changed his name to Ananda and daily blesses a congregation of Hindus with fire previously offered up to Nagar, the snake god. He also “recites Gayatri Mantram with the same devotion with which he celebrates the Eucharist”, according to The Hindu, India’s national newspaper.

The Hindu this week pictures him offering prayers to an idol of the elephant god Ganesh in front of his house. However, he still believes he is fit to celebrate as an Anglican priest and plans to do so when he returns to Britain.

Strange, just strange. Here is my favorite quotation from the story, dripping with wonderfully dry humor:

Pauline Scott, the team vicar of St James, in Stretham, said that she would oppose any attempts by Mr Hart to celebrate in the Ely Diocese.

“We do tend to use Christian priests, surprisingly enough,” she said.

Well said, Rev. Scott. Thanks for flying Church of England. (Hat Tip: Brian E. Vlock)

Oakland A’s magic number to win the American League West:

7

President Bush has named Andrew Natsios as a special envoy to the Darfur region. This is a good move.