...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

But apparently San Diego county is a different story:

Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News.

"We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

For David and Mary Jones, it's about more than a question of money.

"The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion," Broyles told FOX News. "I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw that here in the year 2009, a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot hold a simple bible study in their own home."

"The implications are great because it’s not only us that’s involved," Mary Jones said. "There are thousands and thousands of bible studies that are held all across the country. What we’re interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future."

The couple is planning to dispute the county's order this week.

If San Diego County refuses to allow the pastor and his wife to continue gathering without acquiring a permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

Yeah, it's Fox News, and so I'm suspicious, too. So here's a local station's report:

Pastor Fights County Over Permit For Home Bible Study

BONITA, Calif. -- A local pastor said the County has cited him for hosting a weekly Bible study in his home. The County said visitors who drive to those meetings are affecting traffic in the neighborhood.

Pastor David Jones has been hosting weekly Bible studies at his Bonita home during the past five years. About 15 people attend the meetings, he told 10News.Jones said a visitor to a neighbor's house called the County after a Bible study member hit the visitor’s car while leaving. Shortly after, a county code enforcement officer gave him a citation that said he needed a permit to host the weekly Bible study meetings, he said.

Jones and his attorneys said he shouldn't have to get a permit for what he does inside his house. "We think it is clearly permissible. We think this is a violation of our constitutional rights," Jones told 10News.

A County spokeswoman says the County is concerned with parking and its impact on the neighborhood.The two sides met Wednesday but resolved nothing.Jones said they're scheduled to meet again on June 9.

Ah, so it's a parking issue. At least they didn't try and say it was about public safety or child welfare. I look forward to hearing the county's defense about why birthday parties, bridge clubs, garage sales and other such causes of clusters of parking are not a problem, but this specific instance is. Actually, I look forward to them scurrying away with their tails between their legs with the spotlight following them all the way as they slither back down their rat holes.

Backpacking salsa recipe v0.1 (alpha release)

Here is my first attempt at making a salsa out of dehydrated ingredients for backpacking, with the idea being to reconstitute with cold water an hour or so before cooking a Mexican dinner. Instant dehydrated refried beans, flour tortillas, Parmesan cheese and salsa means back country burritos! Yum! (And also a night of nasal nausea for any tent mate! :o) I bought the ingredients at Shirks (I'd link to it, but do you expect an Mennonite country store to have a Web site? :o), which I've written about before when I extolled the virtues of buying herbs and spices in bulk.

Ingredients

• 4 Tbs chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 Tbs chopped dried green and red peppers
• 2 Tbs dried onion flakes
• 1 Tbs dried garlic slices
• 1 Tbs hot pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• water

Directions

Barely cover ingredients with cold water (my vision is this will be in a zip lock bag in the field, and the water will just go in the bag). Let sit for 1-2 hours. Consume on top of anything on which salsa would be good.

Morgann and I tried it Monday night (traditionally Mexican night at la Casa Lehmer) and decided it needed less tomato (sun-dried tomato flavor is strong), more hot pepper flakes (perhaps reducing the bell peppers by the same amount), and some dried herbs, probably oregano and cilantro, to round out the flavor. Stay tuned for the next version which will incorporate all those changes. Until then, I am labeling this version "alpha," and the next version will be "beta."

I also bought some dried mixed vegetables, which I am going to be experimenting with cous cous, minute rice, instant potatoes, ramen and other "bring water to a boil, turn off stove, pour in food, cover, let sit for five minutes" staples to see how many edible entrees I can come up with for backpacking without paying $7-8 a meal for Mountain House. Stay tuned.

The Lord of Sandwich is spinning in his grave

This afternoon I made one of my favorite sandwiches for the first time in a long time. It has been a while since my last recipe post so thought I would pass this along for posterity.

This sandwich was originally taught to me by a vegetarian aunt when I was the gullible age of seven. I devoured countless versions of it during my ever-starving teen years, where the ingredients could always be counted on as being available. Since then I've found only one other person who likes them which is Drew, the son of one of my best friends, Mike. I will annotate with Drew's commentary as well as mine, since he and I differ on certain key points. His points are not so much credal heresies but more simply nuances in proper doctrine.

Jim's PBPC Sandwich

[Peanut butter, pickle and cheese]

Ingredients

• 2 slices bread - any will do, but I prefer coarse, strong-flavored bread like pumpernickel for this one. Toasting it is good and if you use normal "sandwich" bread, a must.
• 1 Tbs peanut butter - first doctrinal difference: I prefer crunchy for the texture, Drew likes smooth. Either work.
• 8-12 slices of pickle - second doctrinal difference: While both Drew and I prefer dill pickles for this sandwich, I like slices of a good quality pickle like Claussen, while Drew makes the argument that the sharp flavor of cheap hamburger dill slices is a nice offset to the bland peanut butter. He has a point and I certainly grew up using hamburger chips. You can also try a sweet pickle like bread and butter pickles, but I don't think the taste combination is as good as it is with dill pickles. I have never tried pickled hot pepper rings - those could work nicely, though.
• thinly sliced cheese - I prefer sharp cheddar, but have also used American, Swiss and pepper jack (for the first time just today, in fact). I also think cream cheese could be interesting, as long as you toasted the bread. Note: Don't make the slices too thick or the sandwich will be too chewy and suck all the moisture out of your mouth, leaving you unable to speak coherently for an hour!

Directions

Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. If you toasted the bread then spread the peanut butter on while the toast is still warm so the peanut butter will partially melt. Then place the pickles on the peanut butter. Note: This order of assembly is important because if you put the cheese on and then the pickles you will again achieve the saliva-sucking effect. The whole point of the pickles in between the peanut butter and cheese is to both give the maximum taste contrast as well as to directly add the moisture from the pickles to the peanut butter to avoid extreme spit drought. Layer on the cheese, then the other piece of bread. Eat. Mmmm, isn't that good? Aren't you glad you're a brave person not afraid of trying things just 'cause they sound weird?

Serves one, which is enough, because if you like it then chances are you will never find another person who does.

Riddle me this

Thought while driving to church tonight:

Q: What do Soylent Green and the church have in common?

A: They're both made of people!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

An undercurrent of overkill

Do words ever jump out at you as strange? Something you've read or heard all your life that suddenly grates or has you wondering, "How did we end up with that?" Today on the radio during a news report I heard a person say that they were "overjoyed" and immediately thought, "Why is it always 'overjoyed?' Rarely do you hear someone say that they are simply 'joyed.'" Similarly with "overwrought" and "overwhelmed."

Anyway, that reminded me of a great piece from the New Yorker years ago, How I Met My Wife. If you've never read it, go read it now - you're in for a treat.

Two more days

[Post #700, not that you care. It took me long enough to get here!]

In two days I will be flying to Atlanta for eight days of training. Normally, I like training and normally I'd try and to get out and about and see a bit of the city, or sneak off to Augusta for a day to see my daughter, son-in-law and grandbabies in their first house. But not this time. I am going to a Microsoft certification "boot camp." From what I have heard from others who have attended similar sessions I will be spending somewhere between 12-16 (or more) hours a day, every day, the weekend included, studying (cramming, really) for three tests out of which I hope to get two certifications. I've already told Les to expect a short phone call a day and that's about it as far as interaction goes. I will try to tweet about it, too - if I have the cycles. It will be interesting to see if work can survive without bothering me for the entire eight days (I am doubtful).

I have historically disdained certifications but with the economy as it is and with me not getting any younger I've decided I better add a few merit badges to my sash just for safety's sake. My boss is supportive. Much of our department is certified in one thing or another and it helps him present his team as up-to-date and professional. If all goes well with this one I will probably attend again next year and try for another two or three certifications. We'll see.

The vendor specializes in these boot camps. The prices actually aren't bad, as they include air fare, hotel plus breakfast and lunch every day. It's about as close to an "out the door" price as your going to get when pitching it to your manager (Developmentor's Guerrilla courses often include hotel and three meals a day, but not air fare). But while I was perusing the course catalog at CED Solutions I noticed they had a 50 day, 14 certification boot camp! 50 days. 14 tests. $22K. I think my head would explode. When I showed it to my boss in wonderment he said, "You know what that's for, don't you? It's for people who need to reinvent themselves after being laid off." And that makes sense. Perhaps you got a decent severance package and a good resume but need some current credentials to land a decent job to replace your old one. This could help you do that. If you survived.

Anyway, I don't think I'm quite up for that. It will be hard enough trying to pound stuff in to my head for eight days, let alone seven weeks. I've been prepping for the past month and am already somewhere near "Can I be excused? My brain is full." We'll see what these next two weeks brings. Stay tuned.

Quote of the day

Sweet Juniper (one of the best bloggers out there) has the swine flu quote of the day:

And don't get me started about Joe Biden. Or the redneck I overheard saying how he wasn't going to eat Mexican food this week. Newsflash, redneck: Mexicans have been making ALL your food for YEARS.