The girls, ages early grade school to college, had come with their fathers, stepfathers and future fathers-in-law last Friday night to the ninth annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball. The first two hours of the gala passed like any somewhat awkward night out with parents, the men doing nearly all the talking and the girls struggling to cut their chicken. NY Times

From the grave, Albert Einstein poured gasoline on the culture wars between science and religion this week. A letter the physicist wrote in 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, in which he described the Bible as “pretty childish” and scoffed at the notion that the Jews could be a “chosen people,” sold for $404,000 at an auction in London. That was 25 times the presale estimate. NY Times

Gavin Newsome as the next Governor of California? Due to his efforts with the Gay Marriage in 2004 and the court ruling last week. Dems are prearing him for the run, and there are suggestive talking points saying it isn't Gay Marriage stupide, it's housing, gas, war and the economy. SF Chronicle

Arnold wants to rebrand the GOP, and is asking McCain to lead the charge. This is a dangerous situation for McCain. Does he represent "marriage" and the Amendment, with Arnold strongly opposed? McCain would lose Arnold and moderates, independents...but he would gain Hispanics and the Spanish vote that is 82% pro-marriage. Where does McCain stand in California? SF Chronicle and LA Times

Some 50 protesters, clad in orange jumpsuits and black hoods to emulate the infamous photos of prisoners in Iraq, picketed UC Berkeley's law school graduation ceremony Saturday, demanding that the university fire Professor John Yoo for his authorship of the Bush administration's policies on torture. What happened to tolerance and open mindedness at Cal? SF Chronicle

U.S. commanders scrambled to avert a crisis after a soldier deployed in Baghdad apparently used a copy of the Koran for target practice. The incident had the potential to inflame Muslim opinion against the U.S. military and compromise the delicate alliance it has been seeking to forge with local communities against the extremists in their midst. LA Times

Should churches begin to "openly campaign" for the Amendment to the State Constitution? Open means from the pulpit, buying TV ads and raising money from the offerings on Sunday. Should the church start to be political as they can be on this issue, or just let it be and focus on the ministry effort that will be coming down the road? San Diego Tribune

Rainwater Harvesting may be the path to the future. More and more cities are adding 'water meters', and Roseville has already limited water usage for the summer - here in May. If you could save 1-2 months worth of water for the summer, would it be worth it? BTW, Lenney is a great sponsor for EHS and KFIA. Sacramento Bee

The Bush administration has added a controversial ingredient to the $770-million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis: language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries. And the problem here is...? If you are hungry, do you care if you are eating modified foods? If we can save a life, isn't 'franken-foods' a means to life? LA Times

A street preacher who earlier claimed he was harassed by police for speaking about the Gospel on public streets has announced his candidacy to be mayor, so he can work on some of the problems he's seen. "I would require that the city police go through a mandatory course on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and a course training them on what their actual legal authority is and training them on when it is proper to use force to apprehend a suspect…" Daniel Guyeski said in a campaign statement released to WND. As WND reported at the time, Guyeski's conflict with authorities in his town of Alma, Ark., came when he was on a public sidewalk preaching and police and school district officials told him to find another location. World Net Daily

A Prestonwood Baptist Church minister arrested for soliciting a minor online has resigned from the church, Pastor Jack Graham told his congregation Saturday evening. There is great audio and video of the pastor addressing the congregation on this matter. Dallas Morning News

The Gallup Poll of the Muslim World surveyed a representative sample of 90 percent of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the most comprehensive study ever done. The findings are explored in the new book "Who Speaks for Islam?" by John Esposito, Islamic studies professor at Georgetown University; and Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies in Washington. Christian Science Monitor

American evangelist Franklin Graham came under fire this week for saying he opposed evangelism during the Beijing Olympic Games. Graham had made the comment to Chinese reporters during his recent trip to mainland China, where he visited government officials, church leaders, and preached to 12,000 people at a Chinese mega church. Christian Post News

In California, the nation's most populous state, the single largest bloc of committed delegates for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had a feisty message for the Democratic presidential hopeful this weekend: hang tough and stay in the race. Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle

Maybe it's about time for some very drastic ballot box budgeting by California voters. Ballot box budgeting -- voters stepping in and calling the shots on spending and taxes, preempting their elected representatives -- has been the scourge of Sacramento. Initiatives that cut or raise taxes and set aside money caches for pet programs bind politicians in straitjackets and cripple their ability to set priorities. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times

the pulpit of a Danville church, the leader of the 1.2 million member United Church of Christ on Sunday urged those gathered to start a national, "sacred" conversation about one of the most toxic topics in American life: race. Matthai Kuruvila in the San Francisco Chronicle

Republican voters in termed-out Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi's district will choose June 3 among the "real conservative," the "committed conservative" and the "staunch fiscal conservative." Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, has come a long way financially from her days as a single mother on welfare in the late 1960s, with a net worth of $681,511 in 2006, a watchdog group reported. GUY KOVNER in the Santa Rosa Press

McCain wants to end 'judicial activism.' Obama favors justices with 'empathy' for ordinary people. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times

California public school educators suspended students more than 332,000 times for violence or drugs last year - a jump of nearly 16,000 from the prior year. That's 6 out of every 100 students, up from 5 per 100 the year before, a Chronicle analysis of state records shows. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle

Gov. Schwarzenegger showed up last year on light rail downtown for a brief ride. Just checking it out, he said, after riding a night train with few passengers. If the governor rode now, during commute hours, he'd be in a crowd. With a gallon of gas at nearly $4, transit agencies report record ridership. Sometimes there's standing room only. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee

Patients who have used doctor-prescribed pot are being turned away from hospital transplant programs. Stuart Glascock in the Los Angeles Times

Killjoy?" Surely, the people who blow up those cute metallic birthday balloons wouldn't lob a label like that at state Sen. Jack Scott. Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee