Tonight, I made my once-in-several-months visit to Walmart. I despise Walmart, but in my small town, sometimes it's the only place to find certain items like a plain, simple, landline phone without an answering machine or any other gadgets. While I was there, I picked up a few other items.
As I walk through the store, I feel something like panic rising in my chest, so I take a few deep breaths and try to chill. It's a terrible place, with the noise, the high ceilings, near chaos in the grocery area, with carts coming at you from every direction and around every corner.
I finish my shopping and go to checkout where the lines are long. I spot a self-checkout machine with no one around and decide to try it, although, in the past, I've most often been unsuccessful in completing the process without help from a human being - which Walmart resents, because if you are using self-checkout, you're then supposed to do it YOURSELF. With the scan of my first item the machine yells at me to put the item in the bagging area or press the button to skip bagging. I put the item in the bagging area, and the machine yells at me that there's something in the bagging area that does not belong there. I move the item to the cart and that seems OK, so I continue, and the rest of the process goes well. I have to slice the card a few times as I try to figure out which side goes where from the little picture, which is very confusing, at least to me, but that is a minor complication.
Then I look for my receipt, which is nowhere to be seen. I stop an employee and ask her about my receipt. "It's right here," she says, around the corner of the machine and out of sight. Should it be in view? Of course not! This is not supposed to be easy. It's a challenge! The noise and the chaos and the high ceilings are to get you rattled so that you thoroughly appreciate the fact that shopping at Walmart is a daunting undertaking and not for the fainthearted.
I check my receipt, and my print paper is scanned twice. It costs $1.88. I think, "I'll let it go." Then I think, "No. This is Walmart. I want my $2.00 back." I'll have to go to Customer Service to have that done, which can be an ordeal worse than eternal damnation, but tonight the gods are smiling on me, and no one else is there. I get my $2.04 refund, and I go out the doors feeling semi-triumphant but determined not to repeat a visit to the place for at least several months.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Neil's Greedy Fingers In The Pie
From The New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — The inspector general of the Department of Education has said he will examine whether federal money was inappropriately used by three states to buy educational products from a company owned by Neil Bush, the president’s brother.
School districts in Texas, Florida, and Nevada have purchased products from Ignite Learning at the cost of, at least, $1 million, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group says that this is only the amount that they have documented so far.
Members of the group and other critics in Texas contend that school districts are buying Ignite’s signature product, the Curriculum on Wheels, because of political considerations. The product, they said, does not meet standards for financing under the No Child Left Behind Act, which allocates federal money to help students raise their achievement levels, particularly in elementary school reading.
Investors in Ignite, Neil Bush's company, include Barbara Bush and George H. W. Bush. Was this investment by the senior Bushes another bailout of a Bush son?
Ken Leonard, the vice president and chief financial officer at Ignite, said the company had no way of knowing if districts were using federal money to buy its products.
....
“We have absolutely no influence or control over decisions our individual customers make about how they choose to purchase our products,” Mr. Leonard said, adding that Ignite sold its products in “an ethical, straightforward manner.”
....
Ignite has a program known as Adopt-a-Cow (a cash cow for Neil Bush?) in which companies buy the Ignite products and donate them to public schools. In 2006, Barbara Bush donated eight units to schools in Texas serving Katrina evacuees, but here's the catch. Neil sent an email to the school district telling them “in order for the schools to keep the Cows in subsequent years they will have to pay an annual fee of $1,000”. These folks never give up.
...This week, the Houston Independent School District is set to consider whether to authorize schools to spend an additional $300,000 from various financing sources on the Curriculum on Wheels.
Jay Spuck, a former curriculum director for the district, has criticized spending on the Ignite product, saying: “It’s not helping kids at all. It’s not helping teachers. The only way Neil has gotten in is by his name.” Ya think?
Neil is planning to expand his sales throughout the US and into China. Neil Bush and China? That rings a bell.
From the Washington Post if you have the stomach for it.
Thanks to Roger for the tip on the NYT story and the cash-cow idea.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — The inspector general of the Department of Education has said he will examine whether federal money was inappropriately used by three states to buy educational products from a company owned by Neil Bush, the president’s brother.
School districts in Texas, Florida, and Nevada have purchased products from Ignite Learning at the cost of, at least, $1 million, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group says that this is only the amount that they have documented so far.
Members of the group and other critics in Texas contend that school districts are buying Ignite’s signature product, the Curriculum on Wheels, because of political considerations. The product, they said, does not meet standards for financing under the No Child Left Behind Act, which allocates federal money to help students raise their achievement levels, particularly in elementary school reading.
Investors in Ignite, Neil Bush's company, include Barbara Bush and George H. W. Bush. Was this investment by the senior Bushes another bailout of a Bush son?
Ken Leonard, the vice president and chief financial officer at Ignite, said the company had no way of knowing if districts were using federal money to buy its products.
....
“We have absolutely no influence or control over decisions our individual customers make about how they choose to purchase our products,” Mr. Leonard said, adding that Ignite sold its products in “an ethical, straightforward manner.”
....
Ignite has a program known as Adopt-a-Cow (a cash cow for Neil Bush?) in which companies buy the Ignite products and donate them to public schools. In 2006, Barbara Bush donated eight units to schools in Texas serving Katrina evacuees, but here's the catch. Neil sent an email to the school district telling them “in order for the schools to keep the Cows in subsequent years they will have to pay an annual fee of $1,000”. These folks never give up.
...This week, the Houston Independent School District is set to consider whether to authorize schools to spend an additional $300,000 from various financing sources on the Curriculum on Wheels.
Jay Spuck, a former curriculum director for the district, has criticized spending on the Ignite product, saying: “It’s not helping kids at all. It’s not helping teachers. The only way Neil has gotten in is by his name.” Ya think?
Neil is planning to expand his sales throughout the US and into China. Neil Bush and China? That rings a bell.
From the Washington Post if you have the stomach for it.
Thanks to Roger for the tip on the NYT story and the cash-cow idea.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
This Is So Sad
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Army General Russel Honoré said the general public shouldn't be so quick to condemn the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique.
"I don't know much about it, but I know we're dealing with terrorists who do some very awful things to people," he said after Friday morning's speech to about 900 students at Flat Rock Middle School in Tyrone. "I know enough about [waterboarding] that the intent is not to kill anybody. We know that terrorists that we deal with, they have no law that they abide by. They have no code, they kill indiscriminately, like they did on 9/11."
Honoré is from Louisiana. He grew up in Pointe Coupée Parish, across False River (a lake, really) from where Grandpère lived. He comes from a large African-American family, and growing up in that area must not always have been easy. He made his way up the Army chain of command to become a three-star general. His arrival in New Orleans several days after Katrina and the flood began a process leading to the establishment of a measure of order into the chaotic situation there.
How sad to find that he thinks torture is sometimes allowed - in my humble opinion, waterboarding is torture. If General Honoré does not know much about waterboarding, perhaps he should not speak publicly about it. But then, it doesn't kill anyone. Is that the standard by which he judges what is torture?
"If we picked up a prisoner that could tell us where the next 9/11 plot was, we could sit there and treat him nice, and that may not work," he said. "We could sit there and give him water and we could be politically correct.
"But if we have to use sources and methods that get information that not only save American lives, but save other people's lives or could prevent a major catastrophe from happening, I think the American people can decide [whether to allow waterboarding]."
The thing is, General Honoré, experts in gathering intelligence tell us that torture does not succeed in obtaining good intelligence information. The person who is being tortured will say anything to stop the pain or distress.
"As long as we're responsible for hunting those SOBs down, finding them and preventing them from killing our sons and daughters," Honore said, "I think we've got an obligation to do what the hell we've got to do to make sure we get the mission done."
Whatever it takes, even if we think that a person might be a terrorist. No matter that hundreds of "terrorists" have been released after extreme methods of interrogation were used against them, because they were found - oops! - not to be terrorists. No matter that torturing people from other countries may put our troops at greater risk of being tortured in the event that they are captured. That's to say nothing of the ethics of torturing people. I'm thankful that he didn't speak those words to the middle-school children.
I'm sorry to learn that a local African-American man who made good, probably despite a good many obstacles in his path, a hero of sorts, a role model for young people, does not condemn waterboarding.
UPDATE: As I read the article, Honoré made the comments about waterboarding after the speech to the children, not during the speech to them.
UPDATE 2: Please go read Keith Olbermann on an acting assistent attorney general, Daniel Levin, who was forced out of the Bush maladministration three years ago, after he went to a military base and had himself waterboarded and afterwards declared it to be torture.
Thanks to Rmj at Adventus for the tip about Olbermann.
Army General Russel Honoré said the general public shouldn't be so quick to condemn the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique.
"I don't know much about it, but I know we're dealing with terrorists who do some very awful things to people," he said after Friday morning's speech to about 900 students at Flat Rock Middle School in Tyrone. "I know enough about [waterboarding] that the intent is not to kill anybody. We know that terrorists that we deal with, they have no law that they abide by. They have no code, they kill indiscriminately, like they did on 9/11."
Honoré is from Louisiana. He grew up in Pointe Coupée Parish, across False River (a lake, really) from where Grandpère lived. He comes from a large African-American family, and growing up in that area must not always have been easy. He made his way up the Army chain of command to become a three-star general. His arrival in New Orleans several days after Katrina and the flood began a process leading to the establishment of a measure of order into the chaotic situation there.
How sad to find that he thinks torture is sometimes allowed - in my humble opinion, waterboarding is torture. If General Honoré does not know much about waterboarding, perhaps he should not speak publicly about it. But then, it doesn't kill anyone. Is that the standard by which he judges what is torture?
"If we picked up a prisoner that could tell us where the next 9/11 plot was, we could sit there and treat him nice, and that may not work," he said. "We could sit there and give him water and we could be politically correct.
"But if we have to use sources and methods that get information that not only save American lives, but save other people's lives or could prevent a major catastrophe from happening, I think the American people can decide [whether to allow waterboarding]."
The thing is, General Honoré, experts in gathering intelligence tell us that torture does not succeed in obtaining good intelligence information. The person who is being tortured will say anything to stop the pain or distress.
"As long as we're responsible for hunting those SOBs down, finding them and preventing them from killing our sons and daughters," Honore said, "I think we've got an obligation to do what the hell we've got to do to make sure we get the mission done."
Whatever it takes, even if we think that a person might be a terrorist. No matter that hundreds of "terrorists" have been released after extreme methods of interrogation were used against them, because they were found - oops! - not to be terrorists. No matter that torturing people from other countries may put our troops at greater risk of being tortured in the event that they are captured. That's to say nothing of the ethics of torturing people. I'm thankful that he didn't speak those words to the middle-school children.
I'm sorry to learn that a local African-American man who made good, probably despite a good many obstacles in his path, a hero of sorts, a role model for young people, does not condemn waterboarding.
UPDATE: As I read the article, Honoré made the comments about waterboarding after the speech to the children, not during the speech to them.
UPDATE 2: Please go read Keith Olbermann on an acting assistent attorney general, Daniel Levin, who was forced out of the Bush maladministration three years ago, after he went to a military base and had himself waterboarded and afterwards declared it to be torture.
Thanks to Rmj at Adventus for the tip about Olbermann.
God Of All Creation
We bless you and thank you Gracious God for all of these gifts,
and for weaving us, the web of humanity, into this world.
But instead of caring deeply for your creation,
this earth in which we live
and this universe beyond our comprehension,
we have rebelled against it, against ourselves, against You.
We disregarded the web of life in which we live.
Instead of loving it as a mother loves her child,
we put ourselves above it as something we could own,
as something to control.
Each time you have called us back, called us to understand
that we are part of the earth and not masters of it.
You continually remind us that caring for you
means caring for your creation, and for each other.
Then, All-Holy God, you sent Jesus Christ to be among us.
Through his incarnation, you taught us that you are always with us
and with all your creation.
He showed us the way to grace and freedom,
and how to give compassion to each other and the world.
He gathered a people as your own and filled us with longing
for justice and peace for all of creation.
Keep us ever vigilant to follow his example
that we may bring about your reign—
a reign where all your creation will be one—
heralded for us
in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
CREATION LITURGY
Holy Eucharist in the Season after Pentecost
This beautiful prayer by Paul at Byzigenous Buddhapalian is taken from the Eucharistic Prayer of his Creation Liturgy. He has graciously given me permission to use brief quotes from the liturgy. I offer it as a meditation.
UPDATE CORRECTION: Paul says that the prayer I quoted is not his, but rather from the Rev. Steve Keplinger's Earth Mass anaphora.
and for weaving us, the web of humanity, into this world.
But instead of caring deeply for your creation,
this earth in which we live
and this universe beyond our comprehension,
we have rebelled against it, against ourselves, against You.
We disregarded the web of life in which we live.
Instead of loving it as a mother loves her child,
we put ourselves above it as something we could own,
as something to control.
Each time you have called us back, called us to understand
that we are part of the earth and not masters of it.
You continually remind us that caring for you
means caring for your creation, and for each other.
Then, All-Holy God, you sent Jesus Christ to be among us.
Through his incarnation, you taught us that you are always with us
and with all your creation.
He showed us the way to grace and freedom,
and how to give compassion to each other and the world.
He gathered a people as your own and filled us with longing
for justice and peace for all of creation.
Keep us ever vigilant to follow his example
that we may bring about your reign—
a reign where all your creation will be one—
heralded for us
in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
CREATION LITURGY
Holy Eucharist in the Season after Pentecost
This beautiful prayer by Paul at Byzigenous Buddhapalian is taken from the Eucharistic Prayer of his Creation Liturgy. He has graciously given me permission to use brief quotes from the liturgy. I offer it as a meditation.
UPDATE CORRECTION: Paul says that the prayer I quoted is not his, but rather from the Rev. Steve Keplinger's Earth Mass anaphora.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Richard Prince - "Spiritual America"
"Sonic Nurse" by Richard Prince. Image from Wiki.
Perhaps, this is the last post that I'll milk from my few days in New York - very full days, as I look back. But that's always the case on my visits there, as I try to cram in as many activities as possible and end up exhausted.
On Monday morning, I went to the Guggenheim Museum to see an intriguing art exhibit, Richard Prince's Spiritual America. The paintings and sculptures by Prince, a contemporary artist, line the walls and spaces in the alcoves all the way up the circular ramp, from bottom to top - or top to bottom, if you go up the elevator and walk down. I walked smiling or laughing out loud throughout most of the exhibit, and I was laughing with the artist and not at him.
The exhibit includes sculptures, paintings, and rephotography, which I'll talk about later. On the floor at the ground level is the rear half of the body of a car with a sculptured front. That was my first smile, but by no means the last.
Four different versions of photographs of a VO ad were first on the wall as I began my walk up the spiral. Remember Seagram's VO? In the rephotography pieces, Prince photographs ads from magazines, removes the brand lettering, and crops or smudges to get his final work. In the case of the VO works, he left the brand name in. My first reaction to the VO pictures was, "Is this art?" As I continued on, I saw more photographs of ads, high-end furniture ads, with all the lettering and brand names removed.
Then, I came to the masterpieces of rephotography - the "Cowboys" - the Marlboro men. Some of the pictures were quite large, a few on a smaller scale, but seeing the Marlboro men all together is absolutely amazing. I remember the dissonance I felt about the Marlboro men ads when I'd see them in magazines. Here were all these manly men doing rugged work in the pure, clean air, with gorgeous Western scenery in the background, and they're selling cigarettes. All of that came flooding back into my memory, and I came to the conclusion that Prince is an artist with a keen sense of humor. I could not help smiling, as I walked through.
On one side panel was a small picture of two cowboys stooping down. They're nearly silhouettes, but not quite. One cowboy seems to be giving the other a soulful look. I thought to myself, "Brokeback Mountain!" Then, as I backtracked, the whole cowboy exhibit looked gay. When I got back to the hotel that night, I was telling Grandpère about it, and he said, "I always thought the Marlboro men were gay." He was way ahead of me.
The exhibit included paintings of panels of all one color, perhaps with a darker or lighter stripe of the same color. Across the panels were jokes with words running together and breaks in odd places, making them hard to decipher. After you take the time to read something like this, I'ma lwayski ddingabo utmywife. Ea chtimeIin trod ucehertoso meone, thesay, "Yo u'rekiddi ng", the joke is on you for putting such effort in reading a silly joke. My favorite among the jokes is this one, which I'll do without the odd letter spacing. Two psychiatrists. One says to the other, "I had lunch with my mother the other day and I made a Freudian slip. I meant to say, "Please pass the butter," and it came out, "You f**king bitch. You ruined my life".
At that one I laughed out loud. As I walked further along, one of the young museum attendants asked me if I was enjoying the exhibit. Why me? Perhaps he heard me laugh. I told him that I loved it. He said, "I feel the same way".
Moving right along to the "Girlfriend" pictures. The girlfriends are photographs of biker's girlfriends, posing provocatively on the bikes, some topless. The women do not have fashion model bodies. Theirs are not the ideals of beauty that we see on TV, in the movies, or in the fashion magazines. They are real bodies of real women that won't make the rest of us feel bad about ourselves the moment we look at them.
Then there's the "Nurses" paintings room, from which comes the example at the head of the post. The names of the "Nurse" paintings are taken from the trashy romance novels about the racy lives of fictional nurses. Below are the titles of some of the paintings, not all of which were included in the exhibit. Imagine the possibilities in the stories!
A Nurse Involved
Aloha Nurse
Danger Nurse at Work
Doctor's Nurse
Dude Ranch Nurse
Graduate Nurse
Heartbreak Nurse
Island Nurse
Lake Resort Nurse
New England Nurse
Nurse Barclay's Dilemma
Park Avenue Nurse
Piney Woods Nurse
Surfing Nurse #2
Surgical Nurse
Sometimes there's a little blood, a mask. They're somewhat threatening and spooky.
I'm leaving out a lot, including his "Hood" sculptures - that's the hood of a car, and others of his works, because this is running long and is taking me forever to write. Why do I take such time with it? Because I liked the exhibit so. In the beginning, I viewed it with mixed feelings, but I came away loving it. I'm no art critic, and I purposely did not read reviews of the exhibit before writing, since I wanted to give my impression.
The very title of the exhibit, "Spiritual America" is filled with irony. I do not know whether it was chosen by the artist or the curator, but it is apt. The American spirit thrives on fakery. The "Girlfriends" pictures serve as a jolt of reality in the midst of the fakes. Much of the exhibit is pure satire on the advertising trade, which is such a huge part of what keeps the American economy running. And now it plays a rather frightening part in our fake electoral process.
Below are links to two reviews of the exhibit.
From Patricia Zohn at The Huffington Post.
From the East Hampton Star.
Here's a link to further information on Prince's art;
From Art & Culture
Vote For Your Democratic Candidate
If you'd like to cast a vote for your first, second, and third choices for the Democratic candidate for president, go to Democracy for America.
I chose Dennis Kucinich as No. 1, because I agree with almost all of his policies. I know that he doesn't have a chance at the nomination, but I took satisfaction in choosing him in the poll.
There are videos up, in which the candidates talk about what they will do if they become president. Today is the last day to vote.
I chose Dennis Kucinich as No. 1, because I agree with almost all of his policies. I know that he doesn't have a chance at the nomination, but I took satisfaction in choosing him in the poll.
There are videos up, in which the candidates talk about what they will do if they become president. Today is the last day to vote.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Thought For The Day
Sometimes it's best to let folks do themselves in with their own intemperate words, instead of piling on them with words upon words that may distract from the original intemperate words.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Of course, I could be wrong.
What Kind Of Liberal Am I?
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Peace Patroller, also known as an anti-war liberal or neo-hippie. You believe in putting an end to American imperial conquest, stopping wars that have already been lost, and supporting our troops by bringing them home.
Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com
Thanks to David Charles Walker at On The Beach for the link to the quiz.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Sen. David Vitter - Again
Thanks to a reminder from Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief, here's link to the latest on David Vitter from the Times-Picayune. The DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, has subpoenaed the senator "to testify about his involvement in what prosecutors say was a high-priced prostitution ring".
The subpoena puts Vitter, especially, in an awkward and politically damaging position. The Senate Republican caucus welcomed Vitter back into the fold after his public confession in July, but it remains to be seen how much patience Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will show if Vitter's troubles remain in the news. McConnell acted swiftly to condemn Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, after it became public that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges after being arrested in a gay-sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig has faced intense pressure from his own caucus to resign from the Senate but has refused and has sought to withdraw the guilty plea.
Legal experts say Vitter has little grounds to avoid testifying, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court said former President Bill Clinton had to provide testimony in Paula Jones' civil lawsuit.
In a telephone poll this morning, I had the satisfaction of answering the question about my opinion of Vitter with my choice of "strongly unfavorable". He has spoken at length of "family values", you see, and that strikes me as a tad hypocritical when viewed alongside these other activities.
UPDATE: You may want to have a look at the cartoon at FranIAm's place.
The subpoena puts Vitter, especially, in an awkward and politically damaging position. The Senate Republican caucus welcomed Vitter back into the fold after his public confession in July, but it remains to be seen how much patience Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will show if Vitter's troubles remain in the news. McConnell acted swiftly to condemn Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, after it became public that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges after being arrested in a gay-sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig has faced intense pressure from his own caucus to resign from the Senate but has refused and has sought to withdraw the guilty plea.
Legal experts say Vitter has little grounds to avoid testifying, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court said former President Bill Clinton had to provide testimony in Paula Jones' civil lawsuit.
In a telephone poll this morning, I had the satisfaction of answering the question about my opinion of Vitter with my choice of "strongly unfavorable". He has spoken at length of "family values", you see, and that strikes me as a tad hypocritical when viewed alongside these other activities.
UPDATE: You may want to have a look at the cartoon at FranIAm's place.
Feast Day Of Richard Hooker
From James Kiefer at the Lectionary:
On any list of great English theologians, the name of Richard Hooker would appear at or near the top. His masterpiece is "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity". Its philosophical base is Aristotelian, with a strong emphasis on natural law eternally planted by God in creation. On this foundation, all positive laws of Church and State are developed from Scriptural revelation, ancient tradition, reason, and experience.
The occasion of his writing was the demand of English Puritans for a reformation of Church government. Calvin had established in Geneva a system whereby each congregation was ruled by a commission comprising two thirds laymen elected annually by the congregation and one third clergy serving for life. The English Puritans (by arguments more curious than convincing) held that no church not so governed could claim to be Christian.
Upon the recommendation of Tobias Haller at In A Godward Direction, I began reading a collection of excerpts from the title mentioned above. It's not easy reading, but the language is beautiful. I find that if I read aloud, I understand more. His sentences are sometimes long and convoluted, and I also notice that I retain only the vaguest notion of what I'm reading, even when I do understand the words.
When I met Tobias in New York, I told him that I was reading Hooker, and, only half-jokingly, that I needed the CliffsNotes to help me understand his work. Tobias recommended a name of an author who might be helpful, but I did not write it down, and now it's gone. I'll have to get back with him on that.
Another challenge in reading Hooker is that, in his time, the traditionalists, like Hooker, were fairly open-minded, and those whose views he was arguing against were the Puritans, who were doing the new thing and took a narrower view of who could be part of the Kingdom of God. For me it requires a Screwtape sort of mind-bending to keep that straight. It's slow-going, and I'm reading other materials in between my attempts to understand and absorb Hooker.
James Kiefer recommends reading Hooker's sermon, "A Learned discourse of Justification" as the best of his shorter works. This link gives online access to the sermon.
READINGS:
Psalm 37:3-6,32-33 or 19:7-11(12-14)
1 Corinthians 2:6-10,13-16
John 17:18-23
PRAYER
O God of truth and peace, who raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
On any list of great English theologians, the name of Richard Hooker would appear at or near the top. His masterpiece is "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity". Its philosophical base is Aristotelian, with a strong emphasis on natural law eternally planted by God in creation. On this foundation, all positive laws of Church and State are developed from Scriptural revelation, ancient tradition, reason, and experience.
The occasion of his writing was the demand of English Puritans for a reformation of Church government. Calvin had established in Geneva a system whereby each congregation was ruled by a commission comprising two thirds laymen elected annually by the congregation and one third clergy serving for life. The English Puritans (by arguments more curious than convincing) held that no church not so governed could claim to be Christian.
Upon the recommendation of Tobias Haller at In A Godward Direction, I began reading a collection of excerpts from the title mentioned above. It's not easy reading, but the language is beautiful. I find that if I read aloud, I understand more. His sentences are sometimes long and convoluted, and I also notice that I retain only the vaguest notion of what I'm reading, even when I do understand the words.
When I met Tobias in New York, I told him that I was reading Hooker, and, only half-jokingly, that I needed the CliffsNotes to help me understand his work. Tobias recommended a name of an author who might be helpful, but I did not write it down, and now it's gone. I'll have to get back with him on that.
Another challenge in reading Hooker is that, in his time, the traditionalists, like Hooker, were fairly open-minded, and those whose views he was arguing against were the Puritans, who were doing the new thing and took a narrower view of who could be part of the Kingdom of God. For me it requires a Screwtape sort of mind-bending to keep that straight. It's slow-going, and I'm reading other materials in between my attempts to understand and absorb Hooker.
James Kiefer recommends reading Hooker's sermon, "A Learned discourse of Justification" as the best of his shorter works. This link gives online access to the sermon.
READINGS:
Psalm 37:3-6,32-33 or 19:7-11(12-14)
1 Corinthians 2:6-10,13-16
John 17:18-23
PRAYER
O God of truth and peace, who raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Bishop Duncan Says, "No," To Bishop Katharine
From Episcopal Life:
Episcopal News Service] On the eve of the November 2-3 annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Robert Duncan rejected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's request that he lead the diocese away from efforts to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church.
The three-sentence letter, dated November 1, said in full: "Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them."
Bishop Duncan's response is short, but not so sweet, referencing Martin Luther's "Diet of Worms" speech. Well, I suppose they'll be heading out of the Episcopal Church to greener pastures. The question is when?
Bishop Duncan says that if the two constitutional amendments pass, this will change nothing for a year, until the amendments are ratified at the next diocesan convention. According to the bishop, the move is a "warning", an "intention", a "possibility" until 2008. But could the action of the first vote be seen as a violation of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church? I will leave the answer to that question to those who know more than I.
UPDATE: Fr. Jake sheds more light on the question:
He [Duncan] is correct; this changes nothing. But, it does place the Diocese of Pittsburgh in a rather strange transitional state in which they are still part of the Episcopal Church, but not fully. And since their connection to the Anglican Communion is through the Episcopal Church, they are also caught in an inbetween place in regards to their status within the Communion. They have chosen what might best be decribed as "Anglican Limbo," at least until next year.
Read the whole of Fr. Jakes post.
UPDATE 2: Clumber at Barkings Of An Old Dog has a couple of pictures that are worth at least two thousand words, here and here. Check them out.
Episcopal News Service] On the eve of the November 2-3 annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Robert Duncan rejected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's request that he lead the diocese away from efforts to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church.
The three-sentence letter, dated November 1, said in full: "Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them."
Bishop Duncan's response is short, but not so sweet, referencing Martin Luther's "Diet of Worms" speech. Well, I suppose they'll be heading out of the Episcopal Church to greener pastures. The question is when?
Bishop Duncan says that if the two constitutional amendments pass, this will change nothing for a year, until the amendments are ratified at the next diocesan convention. According to the bishop, the move is a "warning", an "intention", a "possibility" until 2008. But could the action of the first vote be seen as a violation of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church? I will leave the answer to that question to those who know more than I.
UPDATE: Fr. Jake sheds more light on the question:
He [Duncan] is correct; this changes nothing. But, it does place the Diocese of Pittsburgh in a rather strange transitional state in which they are still part of the Episcopal Church, but not fully. And since their connection to the Anglican Communion is through the Episcopal Church, they are also caught in an inbetween place in regards to their status within the Communion. They have chosen what might best be decribed as "Anglican Limbo," at least until next year.
Read the whole of Fr. Jakes post.
UPDATE 2: Clumber at Barkings Of An Old Dog has a couple of pictures that are worth at least two thousand words, here and here. Check them out.
Lord Have Mercy!
From the New York Times:
Requiem for the Last American Soldier to Die in Iraq
By Brian Turner
At some point in the future, soldiers will pack up their rucks, equipment will be loaded into huge shipping containers, C-130s will rise wheels-up off the tarmac, and Navy transport ships will cross the high seas to return home once again. At some point — the timing of which I don’t have the slightest guess at — the war in Iraq will end. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately — I’ve been thinking about the last American soldier to die in Iraq.
....
Who can say where that last soldier is now, at this very moment? Kettlemen City. Turlock. Wichita. Fredricksburg. Omaha. Duluth. She may be in the truck idling beside us in traffic as we wait for the light to turn green. He may be ordering a slice of key lime pie at Denny’s, sitting at a booth with his friends after bowling all night. What name waits to be etched on a stone not yet erected in America? Somewhere out in the vast stretches of our country, somewhere out in Whitman’s America, out among the wide expanse of grasses, somewhere here among us the last soldier may lie dreaming in bed before the dawn as the sun sets over Iraq.
I often think about this, too. I think about the numbers of wounded and dead, "Coalition" and Iraqi, the numbers driven from their homes, taking their places as mostly unwanted refugees. How many more before the madness comes to an end?
What will the name be? Anthony. Lynette. Fernando. Paula. Joshua. Letitia. Roger… Who will carve it in stone and who will leave flowers there as the years pass by? Who will remember this soldier and what will those memories be? Does he have brothers and sisters? Will his father sink into the grass in the backyard when he is told the news? Will his mother stare into the street with eyes gone hollow and vacant, the cars passing each day with their polished enamel reflecting the sunlight? What will the officer say when he knocks on that door?
Brian Turner has served in Iraq. He has learned from his time spent there.
When will the rest of us ever learn? When will we ever learn?
Requiem for the Last American Soldier to Die in Iraq
By Brian Turner
At some point in the future, soldiers will pack up their rucks, equipment will be loaded into huge shipping containers, C-130s will rise wheels-up off the tarmac, and Navy transport ships will cross the high seas to return home once again. At some point — the timing of which I don’t have the slightest guess at — the war in Iraq will end. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately — I’ve been thinking about the last American soldier to die in Iraq.
....
Who can say where that last soldier is now, at this very moment? Kettlemen City. Turlock. Wichita. Fredricksburg. Omaha. Duluth. She may be in the truck idling beside us in traffic as we wait for the light to turn green. He may be ordering a slice of key lime pie at Denny’s, sitting at a booth with his friends after bowling all night. What name waits to be etched on a stone not yet erected in America? Somewhere out in the vast stretches of our country, somewhere out in Whitman’s America, out among the wide expanse of grasses, somewhere here among us the last soldier may lie dreaming in bed before the dawn as the sun sets over Iraq.
I often think about this, too. I think about the numbers of wounded and dead, "Coalition" and Iraqi, the numbers driven from their homes, taking their places as mostly unwanted refugees. How many more before the madness comes to an end?
What will the name be? Anthony. Lynette. Fernando. Paula. Joshua. Letitia. Roger… Who will carve it in stone and who will leave flowers there as the years pass by? Who will remember this soldier and what will those memories be? Does he have brothers and sisters? Will his father sink into the grass in the backyard when he is told the news? Will his mother stare into the street with eyes gone hollow and vacant, the cars passing each day with their polished enamel reflecting the sunlight? What will the officer say when he knocks on that door?
Brian Turner has served in Iraq. He has learned from his time spent there.
When will the rest of us ever learn? When will we ever learn?
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Deptartment of Injustice
Dennis at Psychology, Dogs, Politics and Wine has asked bloggers to link to this story of a miscarriage of justice and a subsequent attempt to cover up mistakes by the FBI, using national security as an excuse, as described at Psychosound.
As I told Dennis in his comments, I think that most folks in the US won't care about this sort of thing, because they think that it could not happen to them, but that's not necessarily so under the Bush maladministration's Dept. of Injustice. Besides, this is so very wrong.
Dennis is correct to say that we can do our small part to shine light on at least some of the dark deeds taking place under our present leadership.
As I told Dennis in his comments, I think that most folks in the US won't care about this sort of thing, because they think that it could not happen to them, but that's not necessarily so under the Bush maladministration's Dept. of Injustice. Besides, this is so very wrong.
Dennis is correct to say that we can do our small part to shine light on at least some of the dark deeds taking place under our present leadership.
No Trash Pickup For You!
From the Times-Picayune:
The mound of rotted drywall and moldy planks piled recently outside the wrecked house in Algiers looked more or less identical to the countless heaps that have littered the New Orleans landscape since Hurricane Katrina.
But as volunteers with the Episcopal Diocese's disaster response team soon learned, this batch of gutted debris bore one important difference: Unlike the piles they had tirelessly deposited on curbsides across town during the past two years, a trash crew would not be coming to pick up this one.
The heap festered for days as complaints rolled in from neighbors, including a mom who said her toddler had tried to jump into the garbage, said Katie Mears, director of the church's recovery office.
The diocese ended up paying $600 to have the pile hauled away, a considerable sum for a charity whose work also includes rehabbing houses.
"It comes out of rebuild money, which is what's terrible about it," Mears said. "It's what we would be using to buy Sheetrock and paint."
Because of wrangling over contract clauses between the the city officials and waste disposal companies, folks who gut their ruined houses will have to haul their own trash away, or pay to have it done. The piles are taller than people, sometimes as tall as the houses, and they stretch from one end of the property to the other. They are filled with dangerous materials.
In signing the deals last year, Mayor Ray Nagin vowed that the steeper cost was worth the improved services to usher in a new era of cleanliness along New Orleans' notoriously litter-strewn streets.
But city officials in recent weeks admit they are not requiring the vendors to collect curbside debris discarded from gutting and rebuilding projects, debris that would seem to meet the broad definition outlined in their contracts.
Instead, they're holding the companies to more lenient standards spelled out in the city building code and in an ordinance adopted in April -- five months after the deals were signed -- that saddle residents with the responsibility of hauling away all but the most trivial amounts of construction waste.
I have said repeatedly that every level of government failed the people of New Orleans from the beginning, and that's still true. Whatever progress the city makes in recovering will be mainly due to the efforts of the citizens and volunteers.
I don't understand how the people of New Orleans voted to reelect Ray Nagin, who had already proved himself incompetent. What were they thinking? Maybe now they know better, but it's too late.
You can read the whole sorry tale of the city officials and the companies booting responsibility back and forth with the end result that no one is responsible, and the citizens must do it themselves. Sad.
The mound of rotted drywall and moldy planks piled recently outside the wrecked house in Algiers looked more or less identical to the countless heaps that have littered the New Orleans landscape since Hurricane Katrina.
But as volunteers with the Episcopal Diocese's disaster response team soon learned, this batch of gutted debris bore one important difference: Unlike the piles they had tirelessly deposited on curbsides across town during the past two years, a trash crew would not be coming to pick up this one.
The heap festered for days as complaints rolled in from neighbors, including a mom who said her toddler had tried to jump into the garbage, said Katie Mears, director of the church's recovery office.
The diocese ended up paying $600 to have the pile hauled away, a considerable sum for a charity whose work also includes rehabbing houses.
"It comes out of rebuild money, which is what's terrible about it," Mears said. "It's what we would be using to buy Sheetrock and paint."
Because of wrangling over contract clauses between the the city officials and waste disposal companies, folks who gut their ruined houses will have to haul their own trash away, or pay to have it done. The piles are taller than people, sometimes as tall as the houses, and they stretch from one end of the property to the other. They are filled with dangerous materials.
In signing the deals last year, Mayor Ray Nagin vowed that the steeper cost was worth the improved services to usher in a new era of cleanliness along New Orleans' notoriously litter-strewn streets.
But city officials in recent weeks admit they are not requiring the vendors to collect curbside debris discarded from gutting and rebuilding projects, debris that would seem to meet the broad definition outlined in their contracts.
Instead, they're holding the companies to more lenient standards spelled out in the city building code and in an ordinance adopted in April -- five months after the deals were signed -- that saddle residents with the responsibility of hauling away all but the most trivial amounts of construction waste.
I have said repeatedly that every level of government failed the people of New Orleans from the beginning, and that's still true. Whatever progress the city makes in recovering will be mainly due to the efforts of the citizens and volunteers.
I don't understand how the people of New Orleans voted to reelect Ray Nagin, who had already proved himself incompetent. What were they thinking? Maybe now they know better, but it's too late.
You can read the whole sorry tale of the city officials and the companies booting responsibility back and forth with the end result that no one is responsible, and the citizens must do it themselves. Sad.
Feast Of All Saints
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz - El Greco, 1586-1588 - oil on canvas Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain.
Image from Wiki.
The Carmina Gadelica
The holy Apostles’ guarding,
The gentle martyrs’ guarding,
The nine angels’ guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.
The quiet Brigit’s guarding,
The gentle Mary’s guarding,
The warrior Michael’s guarding,
Be shielding me, be aiding me.
The God the elements’ guarding,
The loving Christ’s guarding,
The Holy Spirit’s guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.
From Christ Episcopal Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
READINGS:
Eucharistic:
Psalm 149;
Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10,13-14; Revelation 7:2-4,9-17; Matthew 5:1-12
Daily Office:
AM: Psalm 111, 112; 2 Esdras 2:42-47; Hebrews 11:32-10:2
PM: Psalm 148, 150; Wisdom 5:1-5, 14-16; Revelation 21:1-4, 22-22:
PRAYER
O Almighty God, who have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those indescribable joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
James Kiefer at the Lectionary has the full reading from "Ecclesiasticus" which begins:
Let us now praise famous men,
and our fathers in their generations.
The LORD apportioned to them great glory,
his majesty from the beginning.
And then, ending with these words:
There are some of them who have left a name,
so that men declare their praise.
And there are some who have no memorial,
who have perished as though they had not lived;
they have become as though they had not been born,
and so have their children after them.
But these were men of mercy,
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.
Their posterity will continue for ever,
and their glory will not be blotted out.
Their bodies were buried in peace,
and their name lives to all generations.
Thanks be to God.
Kiefer includes the full text of "A Litany of All the Saints".
Viewing the painting itself must be an extraordinary experience. Wiki's article on the work seems quite good, and the story behind the painting is there, too. The link above takes you to it.
A Greek-turned-Spanish painter, a Gaelic prayer, the Bible, and prayers from services of the Episcopal Church are quite a mix in one post, but they're my offering to celebrate the feast day.
UPDATE: Of course, Padre Mickey has a beautiful post on the feast day, too.
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